Outside
by Be Boring
Summary: CONCLUDED Kay meets Sandeman and gets more than she bargained for. Kay, an outcast X5, tries to make a life for herself outside Manticore and runs into supposedly dead or just taken off the show X5s, Max, and most of Max's enemies. Runs thru S2.
1. Kay's Escape

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Outside

By Be Boring

**Chapter 1: Kay's Escape**

Kay lay back on her bunk and looked at the bars on the door. Why did X5-547 have to go and open his big mouth about her not letting him do anything? She didn't care what Manticore said about breeding partners, she didn't plan on doing a damn thing with him. So, being the bitch she was, Renfro made sure she was placed a good distance away from the others with no food or water until she decided to cooperate.

"Fat chance," Kay muttered. She really wasn't that far away from the other X5s. She was actually only at the end of the hall. She shut her eyes to at least try to sleep, but a scraping noise interrupted her rest.

"What the hell is that guard doing out there?" She walked to the door and peeked through the bars, but only saw the guard turning the corner as he finished his rounds. She moved to the left side of her room. The noise was coming from the other side, in the next X5's room. She tried to remember who was in there. She had only caught a glimpse of her. It had been a Hispanic looking woman with long dark hair and large brown eyes. She had looked slightly familiar. Her breeding partner was probably in there now, but the scraping noise didn't sound anything like what they should be doing. The next guard was coming down the hall. Kay turned her attention to him.

"Hey, could you tell those two to keep it down over there? I mean, I know he has to get her pregnant and all but it still is really getting on my nerves," she snapped. The guard offered a half smile.

"Yeah, but you know X5-494, there is no possible way to keep him quiet," the guard joked. Kay thought for a moment. She knew who that X5 was. She had always thought of him as cocky. He reminded her slightly of a pimp she had met on one of her missions.

"I sure feel sorry for the one who has to put up with him!" she smirked. The guard winced and instinctively touched his ribs, as though he was remembering something painful.

"I think X5-452 is perfectly capable of handling herself," he said quickly and continued on his way. X5-452. Kay sat back down on her bunk. It couldn't be.

Kay rolled over and tried to sleep through the sounds of the other X5s climbing the squeaky pipe up to the High Place. She could make out a few figures standing at the window as lookout. She could hear everything going on above her through the open window. Zack's voice reached her from the roof.

"I don't trust her. She'll tell Lydecker about the High Place. We can't let that happen," he insisted. Kay rolled her eyes. Just because Lydecker had chosen to question her when he suspected that the kids were doing something they weren't supposed to didn't mean that she would tell him anything. She wasn't that stupid. She knew they would hurt her for betraying them. Not that they had ever needed a reason before to hurt her.

"Zack's right. She knows all about this and it's obvious she hates us. This would be her chance to get us into trouble," Ben's nervous voice reached her. Well obviously I hate you. Why would I like anyone who thinks I am a messenger of the Nomlies!__

"Ever since she came out of that Nomlies' cell without being hurt, we knew she was bad. The Nomlies probably are using her so they can get us, and we know if Lydecker finds out about this that he'll give us to them!" Ben whispered urgently. Give me a break. That 'Nomlie' was sound asleep. It wasn't my fault that the guard put me in the wrong cell accidentally_. She heard a footstep behind her and looked up to see Max staring down at her. All of a sudden, Max gave a piercing whistle, the warning to the others that they had been overheard. Kay heard a quick scrambling as the other X5s came back down the pipe. Zack's blue eyes glared at her from the window._

"How much of that did you hear Kay?" he asked calmly.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't hear anything except for you guys climbing back down here, but I wouldn't be surprised if the whole building heard that," she replied just as calmly. This was something they did on a regular basis. They would argue and act as though they weren't upset, but inside they were both seething.

"I doubt it," he smirked and his eyes glanced behind her. She turned in time to see Max's fist as it knocked her out cold.

Kay shook her head. It couldn't possibly be Max. Max would never allow herself to be caught again, but still, she had to be sure. She waited for the next guard to pass and quickly unhinged her door. She had done it before just to get extra food when she was in heat. It was amazing how hungry she was at those times. She tiptoed over to the next cell and peered in. She could see X5-494 napping on the floor with a blanket from the bunk. The bunk itself was raised up and a woman was using something to scrape around a block in the wall, probably to eventually get it to come out. Kay couldn't see her face from where she was sitting, but from her hair color it was a possibility that it was Max. Kay went quietly back to her cell. At least Max didn't know she was here.

The next day Kay awoke to footsteps in the hall. She looked up to see Renfro standing in the doorway.

"Are you ready to cooperate with your breeding partner, X5-358?" she asked. It was obvious from the look on her face that she already knew what the answer was going to be.

"Go to hell!" Kay snapped groggily. She sat up and stretched, looking completely like a cat in the process. Renfro didn't say anything right away, but simply smirked. This X5 had spirit, that was for sure.

"Well then, why don't we come to a compromise?" she offered. Kay stared at her suspiciously. Renfro didn't know the meaning of the word.

"What kind of compromise?" she inquired warily. This wasn't going to be good.

"I'll let you battle your breeding partner, like the matches we usually have to touch up on fighting skills before you go on your missions. If he wins, you cooperate. If you win, you won't be assigned another breeding partner," Renfro replied. Kay thought about this for a moment. X5-547 was a good fighter, but she was better. He was a little slow when it came to defense.

"Fine, but only if I get a meal first," she said. Renfro just nodded and walked away. About ten minutes later some food was brought in for her. Kay looked at the food in disgust. It looked as though it was from last week.

"Sure, don't spoil me," she sighed and quickly ate it so she wouldn't taste it.

Around the middle of the day she was taken out onto the grounds where there was plenty of room. Any X5s and X6s that weren't on missions at the moment were grouped in a circle around where she would obviously be fighting. Even the X7s guarding the perimeter in the area were watching curiously. Kay had noticed that while the X7s had practically no personality, they did enjoy fighting. She entered the circle. She saw X5-547 approaching from the building. Using the little time she had, Kay glanced at the people gathered around her. She spotted X5-494 whispering in the ear of a guard. She almost smiled. He was known for gambling with guards for a little extra money for when he went on his missions. It was then that she spotted Max. She was standing near the inner edge of the circle, looking around as though she was bored and didn't want to watch this. Kay was sure now, that was definitely Max. She returned her attention to X5-547. He had now entered the circle. She noticed he was sweating slightly, but was looking very confident. She also noticed that he had a strange smell. _Dammit, that bitch amped him up on something so I would lose!_ Kay was furious. If he had taken something to enhance his strength, she wouldn't stand a chance against him. Suddenly, the director standing at the edge of the circle blew his whistle.

X5-547 advanced fast, much faster than he normally did. _She DID give him something! _Kay had to duck quickly to avoid his fist but instead came face to face with his foot. She rolled over onto her stomach and just as he went to kick her again, she grabbed his foot, rolled onto her back, and leapt to her feet, flipping him over. He caught himself and landed on his feet, but she placed a well aimed kick right in the middle of his chest. It hit him squarely and he went flying backwards and landed on his back, gasping for breath. Just as she came to finish him, he jumped up and kicked at her face. She caught his boot with her hand, but received a punch in the ribs. Angrily, she twisted his leg hard and heard it snap. He dropped to the ground, his face twisted in pain. The director blew his whistle again. Kay allowed herself to smile a little. That had been short, even with him on something. The other transgenics looked shocked. Not many of them were familiar with her, since she was the one who was used the most on missions. Now Max was studying her. Kay turned away and focused triumphantly on Renfro. The woman looked fit to kill. Seeing Kay's gaze, she simply nodded reluctantly and walked away. Kay grinned. Now she could just go back to her 'normal' life. As the group of transgenics walked inside to return to their barracks, Kay felt someone touch her shoulder. _Please don't be Max_. She turned to see X5-494 showing off his cheeky grin.

"What?" she snapped. He knew she didn't think much of him.

"I just wanted to congratulate you on your win. That had to be a record breaker as far as time goes," he commented.

"Well, he's not exactly the smartest X5 Manticore ever created. I'm going back to my normal room, so I guess I'll see you later, 494," Kay said, not wanting to prolong their conversation any further.

"Alec," he corrected, then blushed. Kay raised her eyebrows.

"I didn't think any of you had names for each other."

"We don't. I just got it last night."

"From who?"

"From Ma...um, 452," he replied quickly. Kay just nodded and walked away. So Max was already starting with that. She remembered it had been Max's idea for them to have names back at the Manticore in Wyoming. Apparently it would make them more normal. As if they could ever be normal.

Later, Kay stared out the window of her regular cell. She looked at the trees beyond the fence. She wanted to go out there. That was why she loved her missions. It gave her a chance to be out in the normal world. Not that it was that great, but it was better than being in a cage. She was about to turn away from the window when she heard a noise below her. She got her ear as close to the window as she could and listened. It sounded like metal scraping metal. She got her face as far out of the bars as was possible and looked down. Every now and then she could see something poke out of the window that was just above the ground directly below her. Someone was in the basement trying to get out the window. She walked to the door, made sure the guard was turning the corner, and unhinged her door again. She made sure to get it looking normal before she continued down the hall after the guard. After he disappeared around another corner, she went halfway down the hallway and turned down a staircase. She slowly but surely made her way down to the basement. She had to avoid guards and, as soon as she was on the level above the basement, she had to walk quieter, for if it was a transgenic filing at the window they would hear her coming. She reached the door and silently opened it. Slipping into the room where the sound was coming from, she hid behind a large pipe and peered around it. Max was sitting at the window, filing away at the bars. There was a tall canine-looking man behind her watching her work. Kay hid behind the pipe again as she heard someone else coming and looked to see X5-494, or Alec, walking towards Max.

"This is what you're doing down here?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes," Max snapped, "I want out of this hellhole. You had better not tell anyone about this, cause otherwise I will seriously kick your ass."

"Relax, I won't tell anyone."

Max looked at him suspiciously.

"Hey, if you get out of here then I might get a new breeding partner, so hurry it up," he chuckled.

Max turned back to what she was doing. It surprised Kay when he stepped up and started helping her. He apparently wanted a new breeding partner pretty badly. Her curiosity satisfied, Kay snuck back to her room. She reached the door only to find that it had been knocked over. Someone knew she wasn't in there. She turned around and spotted Renfro coming.

"X5-358, I was unaware that you like traipsing around at night," she said coldly.

"What can I say, I sleepwalk," Kay returned quickly. Her arms were grabbed by two guards and handcuffed before she could stop them. Renfro smiled.

"We have a special place for you, 358. You might get a glimpse of something you'll like before we do away with you." With that she turned and signaled for the guards to follow her. Kay found herself in what looked like an operating room. There was surgical equipment all over the place. There was a table flipped upwards that was facing away from her.

"You have been useful in the past, but I have no use for someone who can escape at any time. We'll start harvesting your organs, and since we'll be sending this one here somewhere for some experiments, you'll have this table once he's gone," Renfro smiled casually, as though this was an everyday conversation. "I believe you'll recognize this person. You may even like what you see." She reached over to turn the table around. Kay doubted she'd like it. Even if it was someone she didn't like, whatever Manticore had done to them must be bad. The table turned around to reveal a young man hooked up to all sorts of machines. He looked like there was a hole in the side of his head, but his eyes were open. He didn't seem to be looking at anything, but they were open all the same. Kay studied him, trying to ignore the tubes coming out of his body. He seemed to be about six feet tall, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a strong jaw. Her mouth fell open as she recognized him. Zack! She turned her eyes away from him. She couldn't believe what they had done to him. Sure, she had hated him as a child, but no one deserved this. She heard Renfro laugh.

"What, I thought you'd be pleased to see that your tormentor is no longer capable of doing anything. Of course, that won't be the case for long." Kay looked up sharply, but Renfro didn't explain what she had meant. Knowing her though, it wouldn't be pleasant.

A few days later, Kay tried for the millionth time to pull the handcuffs off of herself. They were at her wrists and ankles, binding her to a very hard bed. She had been here awhile. She wasn't sure if it had been four or five days, but it had been quite some time. The cuffs were heavy. They obviously were not normal, but were made to keep someone with her strength secure. She lay back and shut her eyes briefly. This was just not working. Even if she managed to get the cuffs off, the door could only be opened from the outside.

Kay's head snapped up. The room was shaking slightly. She heard a loud boom, as though from an explosion. She listened for a little bit longer, then smelled the smoke. Manticore was on fire! She struggled with her cuffs even more than before. The smell was getting stronger and now she could hear the fire as well. She looked down for a moment and saw the orange flickering under the door. That was all the encouragement she needed. With a loud grunt she pulled forward quickly and threw all of her weight away from the wall. The chains connecting the cuffs snapped and she thudded to the ground. It wasn't exactly a graceful escape, but she was just glad not to be bound anymore. The cuffs were still around her wrists and ankles, but they weren't attached to anything anymore.

She rushed to the door and started pounding on it, but the door didn't budge. It was too solid. She punched it, kicked it, even threw all of her weight into it, but it still didn't give way. The fire was getting worse outside. The door was getting hotter. If she didn't get out soon then the smoke would kill her. Suddenly, the door opened on its own. She didn't take the time to wonder why, she just raced out as fast as she could. The fire was all up and down the halls. She had to jump through it in several places. It was only after she made it outside that she noticed the other transgenics running from the inferno. Apparently everyone had been let loose, not just her. She had a feeling that it hadn't been expected by Renfro. She leapt over the fence and came face to face with a lizard-like man in an army suit. He gave her a quick glance and ran away. Kay stopped and looked around. It wasn't just the X series that was running, it was other stranger-looking transgenics as well. This definitely had not been planned. Renfro would never risk the outside world seeing one of the other Manticore divisions. She took off running again as part of the building exploded.

She ran several miles until she couldn't keep herself going. As far as she knew, not many of the others had come in this direction. She stopped running and walked into a tiny town. There was no possible way that this place could have any more than a thousand people living in it. She started to walk towards a bar to ask for help when her knees buckled. She had been more exhausted than she thought. She lay there for a moment, then heard a voice call out to her.

"Miss, are you alright?" Kay raised her head to see an old woman standing on her front porch. She seemed concerned and certainly didn't look dangerous.

"Yeah, just clumsy," she called back and forced herself to her feet. She tried not to look as weak as she was, but she apparently wasn't doing a good job of it because the woman walked out to her. Kay flinched as the woman took her arm.

"You're coming inside and I'll get you something to drink," the woman said kindly. Kay just nodded and followed along. The woman was studying the rub marks on her arms where the handcuffs had been. Kay was glad she had managed to get those off in the woods. That was only one more question she didn't feel like answering.

The inside of the house was warm and comfortable. Kay sat down at the kitchen table and looked around. This place could definitely use some fixing up, but beggars can't be choosers. The old woman set a cup of coffee down in front of her and sat down in the seat next to her.

"Do you have a place to stay?" she asked. Kay shook her head and sipped the coffee. It actually wasn't half bad.

"Well then, you're staying here. I have plenty of room and could use the company." Kay felt a little nervous. She didn't know who this person was or what to expect from her. Still, she was too tired to complain and she followed the old woman to what was apparently a guest room. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow. It had to be at least ten o'clock in the morning when she woke up. She sat bolt upright and looked around in a panic, but then remembered what had gone down last night. She headed downstairs to see if she could get something to eat. She didn't hear anything on the way down, and when she reached the kitchen, there was a note for her on the table.

_I'm at church. I didn't want to wake you.  
I'll see you when I get back.  
Brenda_

So that was the old woman's name. Kay walked to the refrigerator and searched for something to eat. She found some hot dogs in the freezer and made those for herself. It was good to have something in her stomach. She scribbled down on the note that she had to leave and was sorry that she hadn't gotten to say goodbye, but thanked her for the coffee and place to sleep. With that she walked out the door.


	2. New Danger

**Outside**

By Be Boring

**Chapter 2: New Danger**

About a week later, Kay sat at the bar and watched the scene around her. She was at a club in a tiny town just outside of Seattle. She studied her newfound friends with interest. There was three of them. She had met them at a tattoo parlor in this town. She had been thinking about getting her barcode removed, although she knew it would come back in a few weeks anyway. She had found a much better solution. The kids who ran the place were very nice and took a liking to her right away, and since she did have artistic talent, (she had discovered that on one of her missions) they hired her to help them. They were an all-around thing because they both made and took off tattoos. This meant that she had access to the equipment to remove her barcode whenever she needed and no one had to know. Just as a celebration of her being hired, they had taken her to this club. It was actually pretty cool. The music was great and the lights were definitely setting the right mood.

Her friends themselves, she had noticed, were terrible dancers, but never gave up. Jason and Katie could pretty much only do disco, which really looked stupid, while Mark just bopped his head up and down like he was dancing to rock music.

Kay wiped her forehead, it was getting warm in here. She stood up and walked outside for some fresh air. She leaned against the side of the building and looked up at the stars. Her eyes started seeking out things like the Big Dipper and other pictures in the sky. She blinked hard and looked back up. She could have sworn one of the stars was blinking. After studying it for a moment, she realized that it was Manticore's signal. It said where they were to regroup. Kay frowned. She had the feeling this wasn't right. Manticore had quite obviously tried to self destruct, so why would any of them need to regroup? Others might not feel the way she did though. Some of the younger kids, like X6s and below, might follow the signal's instructions. She sighed and shook her head. It wasn't like she had to do anything about it, but she'd feel guilty if she didn't. Glancing at the time the signal said to regroup, she went back inside.

The next day she headed for the meeting point a little early. She didn't want anyone waiting when she got there. She also didn't walk right up to where they were supposed to meet; she hid in the trees and watched the bridge they were to go to.

About an hour later a vehicle pulled up and five men got out. Four were dressed in soldiers' uniforms, the other one was wearing a black trenchcoat and a suit under it. It was just Kay's opinion, but he didn't look friendly. She strained her ears to listen in on the conversation.

"You know what to do when they get here?" the man in the trench coat asked. The soldiers nodded.

"Good," he said, "Then we can get this pathetic mess cleaned up."

Kay clenched her teeth. She had been right. This man was here to kill off the transgenics when they arrived. She wished she could just kill him now, but she wasn't in a good position to pull any sudden moves. She listened carefully for sounds of approaching footsteps. It took about fifteen minutes for her to hear anything, but finally she saw a group of X6s coming. When the men's attention was turned to them, Kay inched her way closer to the bridge. After looking for a good spot, she saw the perfect place to position herself to attack. She climbed into a tree overhanging the bridge. The kids all lined up on the other side from the men. They seemed relieved to be getting back to Manticore. Too bad that wasn't going to happen. She saw the man in the trenchcoat nod his head and the soldiers raised their guns. Just as it hit the kids what was about to happen, Kay dropped down onto the shoulders of the man in the trenchcoat. She slammed her knees together against both sides of his head, knocking him out cold. She landed on her feet and snatched the gun from the soldier on her nearest left while kicking out with her right foot and hitting the man behind her in the nose, breaking it. The other two soldiers moved to attack, but she swung the gun like a bat and hit one of them in the collarbone. The other one she simply punched out.

She turned to the kids and shouted "Move!" just as another army vehicle pulled up behind her. She turned and fired the gun at it, sending glass from the windshield flying in all directions. She shot out the tires and the engine as well. When she was satisfied with her handiwork, she dropped the gun and took off after the kids. She followed them until they reached an old warehouse just outside of town. The youngest girl just turned to her and smiled sadly.

"We're on our own now, aren't we?" she asked nervously.

Kay nodded and smiled back at her, hoping to at least somewhat cheer her up. The kids didn't seem to know what to do about this. They went to sit where they seemed to have been sleeping before. A boy finally spoke up.

"What are we supposed to do now?"

"Stay under the radar and protect each other. You don't want that man finding you again."

The girl who had spoken earlier spoke again.

"Why would they want to kill us? We were good soldiers."

Kay shrugged.

"I think Manticore self-destructed. Since they have all the information they need on disks, they can just go recreate a new Manticore. From what I've seen on TV, Eyes Only gave the whereabouts of it so people could take it down. Rather than let that happen, Renfro blew the place up. I don't know who let us out, but that was obviously not planned. Renfro would never have let us loose in the world. This was an accident that those men were trying to fix. It has nothing to do with what kind of a soldier you are. You could be the best soldier in the world and they would still get rid of you to save their own asses. Don't take it personally."

After seeing that the kids were alright, Kay left the building and looked back at it sadly. That had been quite a shock for them, one they would have to adjust to over time. She decided to go back to the meeting point the next day. She knew she couldn't keep doing this. There had to be a way to stop it permanently. She decided not to worry about it for now. She would just continue what she was doing.

Sure enough, more kids arrived at the bridge the next day. Kay noticed with a grin that the man in the trenchcoat hadn't made an appearance today. She knew he must have an awful headache after what she did yesterday. The soldiers were new too. They were about to fire on the kids when suddenly Max came flying in on a motorcycle and knocked them out. She shouted to the kids to run and finished off the men quickly, then turned and followed the kids. Kay followed along as quickly as she could without being noticed. She found herself in an old barn that was now littered with junk food. She looked at the people gathered in the barn. There was a group of X6s, an X7, an X8, and two X5s. She recognized Alec right away. _What is that obnoxious ass doing here? _She listened to what was going on and grinned at the names Max had given the kids. _Fixit, Bullet, Ralph, Bugler, and Zero. If I ever have kids, then I'm not letting her name them._ It was also interesting to watch Alec throwing popcorn at the X7, who was standing by the window and not joining in on the group. Finally, she headed back home.

She was coming out the next day to see if any more kids showed up at the bridge when she saw a van coming down the road. It was headed for the bridge. It passed a red Cadillac, whose driver leaned out the window and shouted, "Hey, you're going the wrong way!" She realized that the driver was Alec, and the people in the van were the kids. She watched as Alec drove on for a little while, then did a quick U-turn on the road and drove after them, swearing the whole way. She followed along, curious to see what was going on.

They went past the bridge and continued to what looked like a temporary army base. From what she could tell of Alec's conversation with the kids, Max had been captured and they wanted to get her out. She waited for a while as they went in and saw finally that Max had emerged from one of the tents. She also watched as they changed the machine that was sending out the signal. She read it and grinned when it said to scatter. It didn't take too long for other people to show up after it was changed.

After seeing the transgenics got out safely, Kay was about to go back home, feeling disappointed that she had been utterly useless here, when she heard someone swearing. She saw the man in the trenchcoat walking around and muttering to himself under his breath. Suddenly, he turned to one of the soldiers near him.

"Since 452 is one of the '09 escapees, I want you to bring me the files of all of those who made it out back then."

Kay slid under the fence and followed the soldier fetching the files. She wasn't going to let that man catch any of her brothers and sisters, no matter how mean they had been to her in Manticore. As soon as he entered a tent, she went in with him and knocked him out as soon as he started to head back out with a file in his hands. She picked it up and glanced through it. She didn't know what that man expected to find in here, since they had all changed so much since then and there were no recent pictures. She ducked under a table as another soldier came in and saw his fellow worker on the ground.

"Oh, White is not going to be happy about this," he groaned and walked back out. So that was the trenchcoat man's name. Kay snuck back out and headed home, finally worrying about what might happen to her in the future.


	3. Betrayal

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Outside

By Be Boring

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Chapter 3: Betrayal

Several days later, Kay was pacing back and forth in the lobby of a hospital in Seattle. Jason had gotten into a car accident and she wanted to be there when he woke up. She still had a hard time caring about other people, but she felt that she owed him since it had been his idea to hire her in the first place. Of course, that was probably because he was a flirt and had found her attractive. She smiled at the memory of his mouth dropping open when he saw her. Katie had had to shut it for him. Mark just rolled his eyes and said, "Here we go again!" Now Kay knew what he meant. Since starting work at the tattoo parlor, she had seen Jason's jaw drop at the sight of women at least twenty times. He also had terrible pickup lines. They always got a kick out of teasing him about his 'charm' with women. Still, as annoying as he was, she didn't want anything bad to happen to him. Mark had managed to joke about it, saying that if she wasn't careful she would loosen up and actually become a person. She just shook that off. Who really cared if she didn't show as much emotion as other people? It was just the way she was. If they didn't like it, so what?

She looked around at the room she was in now. Doctors were running all over the place. People apparently got hurt a lot more after the Pulse. She glanced out the door. There was someone laying there. It looked like a teenage boy. She walked over to him and checked him out. He was unconscious and someone had cut skin off the back of his neck. She looked closer just under the wound. There were some black dots that looked as though they would have continued upwards if the skin had not been removed. She studied his face. There was no doubt in her mind that he was from Manticore. She recognized him as one of the X6s that had been watching her fight with X5-547. Why had he been left here like this?

She heard tires squealing on pavement. She looked up to see another army vehicle approaching. She quickly got out of sight and watched everything happen. The soldiers got out and studied the boy.

"He's definitely one of them. Wasn't X5-494 supposed to finish them off? White isn't going to be pleased," one of the soldiers muttered.

Kay's head perked up at this. If White was involved, then she had to get the kid out of there. The soldiers loaded the kid into the back of the van and got in front. Kay snuck into the back without anyone noticing and hid behind some large guns in the front corner behind the driver. It seemed that the drive took forever, but they eventually reached an old warehouse. The soldiers removed the boy and put him in a bag. They dragged him out of view and Kay followed, trying to stay out of sight. They didn't go too far, so she settled herself behind a crate. She saw someone talking into a cell phone angrily. Judging by the trench coat, it had to be White.

"Get your ass over here now! We have something to discuss about your little mission," he snarled into the phone.

Kay thought for a moment, then realized that he must be talking to Alec. Why would Alec help this man when he had helped Max against him not too long ago? It wasn't too long before Alec arrived. He didn't look very happy, but he also seemed confused. He didn't get a chance to say anything though, because White got started too fast.

"I thought I told you to kill them!"

"What are you talking about? I did!" Alec insisted.

"Oh, really? Then what is this?"

The soldiers dumped out the X6 onto the floor.

"We found him unconscious in front of a hospital. Now why is that? You obviously had no trouble killing whatever the hell this came from!" White help up what looked like a little book that had a white barcode against a furry black background. On the next page was a human barcode, obviously from the X6.

"Oh come on. He's just a kid!" Alec tried to explain. White sneered.

"I'll let this one slide, but you had better kill the last one you get."

"I need more time," Alec said. "I don't have enough."

"You'll get no more time. If you don't bring me back another barcode, then you're as good as gone," White replied angrily.

Alec was about to turn and walk out when White stopped him. He beckoned someone to come out. Kay looked to see a soldier with a bandage over his nose. He was the one whose nose she had broken when saving those kids.

"A few days ago we were attacked rounding up some transgenics. At first we assumed it was 452, since she attacked the next day, but my men's description of her didn't match. We'll see if you recognize her, and give us any information you can about her."

The soldier looked a little nervous but gave his description.

"She had long sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. She was about five foot seven and was probably about a size five. Her only resemblance to 452 was that she had full lips."

Alec didn't even have to think about it.

"That would be X5-358. She was known for being rebellious around Manticore. She had a tendency to not follow orders and liked to do things her own way, but she was definitely one of the best X5s Manticore made. She took out another X5 that had been given strength enhancing drugs in about a minute."

White just nodded.

"Get out of here. We don't need anything else."

Alec quickly turned and walked out. White turned to one of the other soldiers and gestured to the X6.

"Get him to the lab. I'm sure they'll find something to do with him."

Kay gritted her teeth. She followed the men that took the X6. They ended up in a high tech lab that immediately gave her the creeps. This place was meant to take apart others like her. She waited until the soldiers left the boy with some scientists and jumped out, grabbing a rack of chemicals and hurling it at the men. Most of them got sprayed with God knows what, but some managed to avoid it. They picked up some guns from a nearby table. Apparently they had been given those to defend themselves should anything happen. Kay darted to her left as quickly as she could. None of them could get in a good shot. She easily dodged any bullets that got too close and snatched a gun from one of them. Her only choice was to shoot. She blew the others away. Grabbing the kid, she ran back out of the room.

She just managed to dive behind some more crates when White came running past. She listened to what happened. Apparently she hadn't killed one of the scientists, because he started describing her. She took the time to get the X6 out the front doors and into one of the vans parked in front of the building. The idiots had left the keys in the vehicle, so she started it up. It gave a loud bang as she backed it up. It obviously wasn't in the best shape. She heard shouts that were getting closer to her. White was coming. She backed up as far as she could go and started to turn it towards the road when White came out of the building. He got a good look at her. She just smiled and blew him a kiss, then pulled out of the tiny parking lot. Through the rearview mirror she saw soldiers climbing into other vans in front of the building, but she just did a full circle through the streets of Seattle, ending up just behind the warehouse again, and ran into the woods with the X6, who was just starting to wake up. Those men were expecting her to have gotten her ass out of Seattle on the other side as fast as she could, but thankfully they weren't intelligent enough to try checking the rest of the area just in case.

She carefully made her way back to the hospital after making sure the boy was alright. He told her that Alec had pretended to start leading him back to where they were supposed to regroup, but once they were alone he had knocked him out. Kay was still mad that Alec had betrayed the transgenics. Even if his life was on the line, he shouldn't have turned traitor.

She made it back to Jason's room just as the doctor was coming out.

"He just woke up. He's asking to see you," he smiled. Kay returned the smile and entered the room. Jason grinned meekly up at her.

"Is everything going to be okay?" he asked nervously. She just grinned back down at him.

"Yes, everything is going to be just fine."


	4. Reunion

****

Outside

By Be Boring

****

Chapter 4: Reunion

A few nights later, Kay shoved her head under her pillow. She was sick of trying to sleep through the sounds that came from Seattle. Even though she didn't live right in it, her supersensitive hearing allowed her to hear the most annoying things. There was always lots of police sirens which was stupid because the police these days were a joke. They were the enemy of every innocent person out there. She wished she could leave, because this place was teaming with transgenics, but she had found herself a good thing here. Her only problem was that now White had seen her and would recognize her if he came through this area. Hopefully he wouldn't though. This little town had no one from Manticore in it that she had seen. It also had a low crime rate so no attention was ever drawn to it. As far as anyone else knew, this place didn't exist. She wasn't even sure what the name was since the sign had been torn down years ago and everyone had their own stupid little nicknames for it. Now even its residents weren't sure what the name was. That could be useful in the future.

She groaned. The noises were driving her nuts. She turned on the TV. Not that it would help, but at least she wouldn't be bored. There was a news special on.

"People in Chinatown in Seattle have been dying of an unknown pathogen. As far as anyone knows, there have been no reports of other races dying, just the Chinese. They appear to have flu-like symptoms at first, then....." Kay turned off the TV. That wasn't the kind of entertainment she was going for. She got out of bed, got dressed, and got in her car to head to Seattle. Maybe she could find a bar or something to hang out at.

She eventually came across a bar called "Crash". It seemed like an okay place. She looked around at the people inside, it looked as though everyone knew each other. She sat down at the bar and got a beer. Suddenly, a young man with long blond-streaked hair came up next to her.

"Hey baby, I haven't seen you before," he said with what he apparently thought was a sexy grin. Kay raised an eyebrow.

"And now that I've met you I doubt you'll be seeing me again," she quipped. He laughed, obviously too drunk to realize that she had insulted him.

"I'm Sketchy," he said in a quieter voice.

"No shit," Kay replied. "I'm outta here." She stood up and walked out the door before he could think of anything else to say to her. She was about to get into her car when a hand grabbed her shoulder. She whirled around, prepared to defend herself, but only saw Alec. He jumped back a few feet.

"Whoa, calm down girl. I didn't mean to scare you," he said quickly. Kay breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"What do you want?" she snapped. He grinned.

"Freedom hasn't changed you a bit," he laughed.

"Well, it has shown me a few things. Like the fact that you're a traitor."

He looked confused. "What?"

"I saw you working with White. What did he do, offer you prostitutes?"

Alec finally looked as though he understood. "Well, for starters, I wouldn't need his help with prostitutes. They run wild in Seattle these days. And for another thing, he had a little bomb type thing against my brain stem so that if I didn't get what he wanted done in 24 hours then it would kill me. If I finished the mission then he would take it out."

Kay studied his face. She wasn't sure if he was lying or not. He didn't seem to be.

"I finally had to ask Max to get it out with some doctor guy. It cost her ten thousand dollars to save my ass," he explained. Kay stared at him in disbelief. Either this was a crazy tale or Max had to be the most generous person on the planet.

"Fine, you don't believe me? Go in and ask Max!" he said huffily. Kay was paying attention now.

"Max is in there?"

"Yeah, she comes here a lot. Why?" he asked curiously. She shook her head.

"It doesn't matter. I guess I'll be going now." She turned to get into her car when he reached out and held the door shut.

"Come on. Come back inside. I don't want to scare you off just yet," he said with a tiny smile. Now it made sense. He was a player. She shook her head again. The look in her eyes told him she meant it this time. He stepped back from the car and let her get in.

As she was pulling out he called out to her, "I hope I'll be seeing you around!" She gave him a disgusted look.

"I hope not!" she shouted back. It didn't seem to affect him that much. He just shrugged and went back inside. Max looked up as he reached her table.

"What do you want?" she snapped. Alec rolled his eyes.

"That seems to be every X5 woman's favorite line for me." Max looked up at him curiously.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Well I was just talking to a girl I knew in Manticore. She wasn't exactly friendly. I mean, I know we didn't get along famously, but she didn't have to be rude."

"Knowing you, I'm sure she did. Who was it?"

"Well, her designation is X5-358," he replied and was about to grab the pitcher of beer from the table, but stopped when he saw the shocked look on Max's face.

"What did I do now?" he whined. Max sat back and took a deep breath.

"You didn't do anything. It's just that I knew 358 back at the Manticore in Wyoming. She must have been moved to Seattle after the escape. She wasn't exactly loved."

Alec tilted his head to the side.

"Why not? Other than having a personality just like you, she seemed okay to me."

"We used to believe in Nomlies. They were just the X2s that were still alive, but we were little and didn't know any better at the time. We sort of turned them into demons with our minds. We believed that if we weren't good soldiers, then we would be given to them and they would eat us little by little for eternity. A couple of us were coming back from being lectured by Lydecker since we had gotten into a fight, and we saw her coming out of a cell that was occupied by an X2. We thought after that that she was a messenger of the Nomlies since she didn't have a scratch on her. I know now that it's probably just luck that she came out of there with no injuries, although I don't know why she was in there in the first place. Still, at the time we thought she was the enemy. Whenever something bad happened, we blamed her and beat her up. Some of the times I can't believe she survived. Zack was the one who led it. They had never gotten along in the first place, so he must have used our fear of the Nomlies as an excuse to hurt her. She probably hates us." Max couldn't even look up at him. Alec thought for a moment.

"I thought she wanted out of here pretty fast when I told her you were in her," he thought out loud. Max looked up quickly.

"You told her I was in here?"

He nodded. "She pretty much just jumped in her car after I said it, and here I was thinking it was something I said. Turns out she just doesn't like you!" he joked. Max sighed.

"She's someone who I wish I could say I'd never met, but it's my fault that I feel that way, not hers."

Kay sat at her kitchen table the next morning drinking coffee. The TV was off since most channels were still talking about the strange illness that was striking the Chinese. She couldn't really care less. As long as it didn't affect her, then she didn't care. Suddenly, there was a knock on her door. She didn't even get a chance to answer it because Mark just opened the door on his own.

"We're running into Seattle for some more supplies. Wanna come?"

Kay groaned.

"I was just there last night and I don't really feel like going again. And by the way, couldn't you wait for me to answer the door? I mean, I could have been sitting here stark naked!"

Mark grinned slyly.

"Would that necessarily be a bad thing?" he asked innocently. Kay couldn't help but grin back at him.

"No, because then I'd have an excuse to kick your ass."

"As if you could."

"You'd be surprised."

Mark grabbed her arm and started dragging her towards the door. Kay sighed and followed along. He'd beg her until she agreed anyways. In his truck he turned to her.

"I gotta make a stop at Jam Pony before we get the stuff, alright?"

Kay looked at him. "What is Jam Pony?"

"It's a bike messenger place. I need to send a letter to someone I know in a bad neighborhood, and I would rather not go myself."

Kay chuckled. "So you'll send an innocent bike messenger to get hurt for you?"

"Precisely."

They pulled into a dumpy building with several bikes out front. Mark climbed out and went inside to take his letter in. All of a sudden, a voice called out, "Hey, there's that babe I saw last night!" Kay looked up to see that the voice belonged to none other than Sketchy. She rolled her eyes and climbed out of the truck.

"And here I thought that I was free from you," she complained. With a snort as though he didn't believe she didn't want to see him again, he turned to shout back into the building.

"OC, Max, Alec, you guys gotta meet her!"

"I don't want to meet any of your retarded friends," she snapped.

"Hey, who are you calling retarded?" a horribly familiar voice asked. She looked up to see Alec approaching.

"Well, I got that right on the money," she joked dryly. A black woman whom she had the sneaking suspicion was lesbian laughed at the comment. Then a female voice came from the other side of her.

"This is who you were talking about, Sketch?"

Kay looked at who had spoken and was shocked to see that it was Max, sitting on a bike with a blue cap on backwards. Max studied her.

"Hey, haven't I seen you before?" she asked suspiciously. Kay shrugged nonchalantly.

"Hey, why don't you tell us your name, seeing as how I never got it," Alec suggested innocently. Kay shot him daggers with her stare.

"Kay," she replied after a moment's silence. Max's eyes widened in recognition. Thankfully, Mark came back at that moment.

"Ok, we can go pick up the other stuff now," he said, completely unaware of the tense situation. Kay nodded and hopped back in the truck before Max could say anything.

As they were pulling away Mark asked, "What did I walk in on in there?"

"Nothing," Kay replied, and refused to answer any of his other questions for the rest of the trip.

They were walking around inside a store she didn't recognize when she was tapped on the shoulder. She glanced behind her to see Max.

"You didn't think that you could just leave like that, did you?"

Kay shrugged. "I didn't see why not."

"We have to talk. Could you tell your friend that you'll get a ride back later?"

Kay thought for a moment, then went to find Mark. After she came back, Max said, "I know a place we can go to talk with no interruptions." Kay followed her to a nice apartment building.

"Do you live here?" she asked in shock.

Max shook her head. "Someone I know does. He'll let us talk in here."

Kay didn't ask any other questions that immediately popped into her head. She figured she'd wait until she knew Max a little better before asking her any personal questions.

They went into an apartment that definitely had class. A man walked out from the back. He was tall and good looking, with sandy hair and blue eyes that seemed even clearer behind his glasses.

"Kay, meet Logan. Logan, this is Kay, one of my sisters from Manticore."

Logan studied Kay for a moment. The fact that Max had told him she was from Manticore apparently didn't bother him. He seemed to know all about it. She turned to Max.

"I thought you said we'd be talking alone."

Max shrugged. "He knows all about us, so I don't see a problem with him being here."

Kay still felt uncomfortable around him. Logan seemed to get the hint.

"I was just going out to get something to eat, so I'll see you girls when I get back." With that he grabbed his jacket and walked out the door. Max laughed after the door shut behind him. Kay raised an eyebrow.

"What was so funny?"

"Logan is an excellent cook. He doesn't need to go out to eat." She sat down on the couch and motioned for Kay to do the same.

"What did you want to talk about?" Kay asked. She was really clueless as to why she was here.

"For one thing, I wanted to apologize about how you were treated when we were kids. I know it was a long time ago, but still, it wasn't right and I left without saying that. I also wanted to know how you've been doing. I like seeing my family again. Zack always made sure we never knew where the others were."

Kay winced at the sound of Zack's name. She still could see him on that table so vividly.

"Well, after you guys left, things got bad for us. They wanted to reprogram us so that the same thing couldn't happen again. It probably would have worked right away had it not been for me. The others blamed me for what had happened, so they were too focused on me to follow along well with the reprogramming. I was too much of a reminder of what you guys had believed, so I was transferred to Seattle. Since the kids there basically gave me the cold shoulder, I was trained for missions early. By the time the others got started on them I was by far the best. I guess things were going well for me until I snuck down to the basement to see what you were up to one night. I had heard you working at that basement window so I went to see what was going on. I was caught and Renfro said she had no use for me if I could escape whenever I wanted, so she gave the order to have my parts harvested. If the fire hadn't happened then I wouldn't be here."

Max didn't seem sure of what to say. "I didn't bring down Manticore, but I did let everyone out. Renfro had told me that she would have Manticore self-destruct if its location ever got out, so I went there to let everyone go. That actually wasn't my main reason, but I still did it."

Kay couldn't think of anything to reply to that with. Despite the fact that her childhood was made a living hell by Max and her friends, she owed her life to her. "What was your main reason for going there?"

"It's a long story."

Kay could see Max didn't want to discuss it. "Did you see what happened to Zack there?"

Max looked up, surprised. "Yeah, but how did you know about him?"

"Renfro showed him to me when she told me that she'd be harvesting my parts. It was to show me what would happen to me. I couldn't believe it when I saw it."

Max nodded. She had obviously seen him as well. The memory of it seemed too painful for her to think about. Kay stood up.

"I should probably go." She headed towards the door. She reached the elevator and stepped in. It was only as she made it to the front of the building that she realized she'd left her bracelet up there. Katie, Jason, and Mark had gotten it for her. It was like their symbol of friendship. They all had one and had made another one for her when she joined the group. She turned and ran back inside. She climbed into the elevator and the doors were just about to close when someone shouted, "Hold the doors!" She stuck her hand between them to keep them open and stepped back inside only to have Logan step into the elevator next to her. He seemed a little surprised.

"Why are you going back up?"

"I left something in your apartment," she replied, making sure she didn't make eye contact with him. She still didn't feel right about him.

"Do you feel weird around me or something because I have more than noticed that cold shoulder of yours."

Kay shrugged. "It takes me a while to get used to someone. Are you and Max a couple?" She couldn't help herself. She knew Max wouldn't answer her so she may as well ask him. He seemed to be embarrassed by the question.

"We had a chance once, but not anymore."

Kay was now thoroughly confused. "What does that mean?"

"It means Manticore gave her some sort of virus encoded specifically to my DNA that will kill me if I touch her. I don't see a relationship getting far with that in the way, do you?"

"Why would Manticore want to kill you? Wait a second, I knew I recognized you from somewhere. You're Eyes Only, aren't you?"

Logan looked taken aback. "How did you know?"

"For one thing, I'm great with eyes so yours seemed familiar. And then there's the fact that Manticore wants to kill you. You must be someone who bugs them a lot."

The elevator doors opened and Kay followed him to his apartment. She ran in once he opened the door and grabbed her bracelet. She left the room before Max could say anything. Logan would explain it to her.

Kay spent the rest of the day wandering around Seattle. She didn't really know why, but she didn't want to head home just yet. Her little conversation with Max and Logan kept going through her mind. She had changed her mind about him. If he was Eyes Only, then he couldn't be that bad. After all, he had brought down Manticore, which meant he was the main reason she was alive.

It was starting to get close to suppertime when she saw someone run past at an incredible speed. She was about to follow when she spotted Max coming right behind him. Max gave a few quick hand signals as she passed, not even slowing her pace. Kay immediately understood. The signal had said "Return to base. Danger." Although she no longer had a base, out here it basically meant to get herself home as fast as she could. She didn't take the time to wonder why, she just took off. She had easily been one of the fastest X5s, so it didn't take her too long to get out of town. After that she just waited for someone to come along. Pretty much the only people who traveled this road lived in her little no-name town, and she knew everyone there. She could just bum a ride off somebody. It was only a couple minutes later that the owner of her favorite bar came driving by. She was home in no time.

She waited until about midnight, then found the number for Crash. She remembered that Max rarely slept, so if she was unwinding she would most likely be there. After asking the bartender for Max, she was greeted by Max's suspicious voice.

"Who is this?"

"It's Kay. What happened today?"

"White was testing something that would kill transgenics. I don't know exactly what it was but any transgenic in the area would be killed."

"Oh."

The line became fuzzy and she couldn't hear Max too well, so she said goodbye and hung up. She almost laughed to herself. Now Max had saved her life twice. Maybe having a sister wasn't such a bad thing after all.


	5. Exposed

****

Outside

By Be Boring

****

Chapter 5: Exposed

It was Halloween and pretty much all of the little no-name town's population had shown up at a costume party by the lake. Kay had never been in such an interesting place before. They had even set up a bar and there was music to dance to. It was a perfect night to dance outside, too. The sky was clear and thankfully it was warm.

She had lost a bet with Jason so he got to pick out her costume. It was no surprise to her that it ended up being something skimpy. It was just a dark gold bikini top and a dark gold skirt tied at her waist and didn't even reach her knees. There was also a black wig and an Egyptian-looking mask that covered her entire face. Kay was grateful for the mask at least, because if people started wondering who the slut was, they wouldn't know it was her. According to Jason, this costume was in the movie "The Mummy Returns". Kay had never seen it, and now she didn't want to.

It surprised her that she wasn't the only one dressed in something this tiny. There were plenty of others who had dressed like hookers and like some of their favorite pre-Pulse singers, and you could see their faces.

Kay had pretty much just been walking around by the lake. It was where there were less people, and it was where she was comfortable. Despite her better judgment, she headed up to the bar to get a drink. She got plenty of catcalls along the way. She simply ignored them and couldn't have been happier when she reached the bar. She didn't want to start drinking at a party like this, so she ordered a coke. She glanced at the people around her and jerked her head to face forward almost immediately. White was sitting in the seat just to the left of her. He wasn't paying attention to her at the moment, but she didn't want to take any chances. It wasn't like he could see her face, but just being this close to him made her insides crawl. Suddenly, she felt a hand slap her ass. She whipped around to see a rather large man, not in height but around his gut. He grinned at her and she noticed it looked as though he had never been introduced to a toothbrush.

"Hey honey, you just met the man of your dreams."

"Then your definition of dreams must be a little different than mine," she shot back calmly. She had handled plenty of idiots like this before. Her remark seemed to make him mad.

"Kiss my ass, bitch!"

"Which one?" she asked sweetly. With that he stormed away. She heard a laugh from her left. She turned to see White looking at her with interest.

"I take it you get guys like that all the time," he commented. Trying not to act as disgusted as she felt, she shrugged.

"I'm Ames, what's your name?" he asked.

"I'm not interested."

It surprised her when he smiled at that. He held up his left hand and she noticed the wedding band on his ring finger.

"I'm just trying to make conversation. It'll probably be the high point of my otherwise boring night."

Kay wasn't sure what to say. "What's with the suit? Are you a Fed or something?"

"Sort of," he replied evasively.

"Well, that's new. We never get anybody like you around here. Is there a reason you're here?" She wanted to know exactly what he was doing in her home place, and as long as he didn't know who she was, it was safe to ask.

"Well, maybe you can help me. I'm looking for someone who I believe lives here. She's about five foot seven, with long sandy blond hair and blue eyes and rather full lips. She's about twenty. Do you know anyone like that?"

Kay pretended to think about it for a minute. The whole time she was actually wondering how he had found out that she was here.

"No, I can't say that I have."

He sighed and turned back to his drink, apparently no longer interested in the conversation. Kay just grabbed her drink and walked back down to the lake. That had been way too close. She didn't need to get caught. It occurred to her that now she would have to change homes. He knew she was here. She noticed some soldiers in the party that didn't look as though they were in disguise. There were also some people in suits wandering around. They must really want to find her.

Mark walked down by her.

"Why aren't you up enjoying the party?"

"In this? I don't feel like being touched anymore by the perverts at this party."

Mark grinned and put a hand on her shoulder, rubbing her neck. "Katie has been getting touched plenty too, and you saw how well she covered up. I think they're after any female here, not just one who's showing lots of skin."

He pulled her hair over shoulder and started giving her a shoulder rub. He always seemed to have a sixth sense about when someone was tense or not.

"Hey, what's that on your neck?"

Kay's hand shot up instinctively to the back of her neck. It was getting close to the time that her barcode would come back since the last time she lasered it off. It must be coming back.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and Kay felt something whiz past her ear. She turned her head quickly. A soldier from the crowd was shooting at her. He must have seen the returning barcode. People screamed and ran away from him. White got up from the bar. The soldier turned to him and shouted, "She's down there sir!" White's eyes landed on Kay. She looked back quickly at Mark to make sure he was out of the way, then took off running. She was moving too fast for anyone to make a good shot. She raced into the trees and wove through them as rapidly as possible. They would be surrounding the woods, so she would have to get through them quickly.

She was nearing the other side when she spotted the vehicles lined up on the road. She couldn't see too much detail from here, but she was sure they were White's men. She turned and headed back in.

"She's going back in. Move it!"

Kay realized someone must have seen her. She cut to her right quickly and looked for a place to hide. The soldiers were getting closer. She saw a clearing just ahead of her. She was about to go around it, seeing as how being in the open was the last thing she wanted at the moment, but noticed that there was a pond in the middle. It seemed fairly deep, so she dove in silently. She swam to the bottom and grabbed onto some weeds to anchor herself down. She could stay down here for a while, since she had always been able to hold her breath longer than the other X5s. Her sharp eyes saw the men walking around the clearing.

After about a minute, one of the soldiers was talking into his walkie-talkie. From the look on his face she had a feeling they were saying that they had lost her. After he put the walkie-talkie away, the men stayed in the clearing. Kay didn't know what they were doing. Why would they need to stay here?

About a minute later, White appeared. He talked to the soldier who had the walkie-talkie for a moment, then looked all around him. His gaze finally wandered to the pond. Kay knew she was too deep to be seen, but she still got chills. White turned back to the soldier and said something to him. After he stopped talking, some soldiers got down by the pond with some equipment that she didn't recognize. _They're going to search the pond!_ The piece of equipment the man was holding seemed to be something for checking heat. Kay guessed they were looking for anything in the water with body heat. Just as the man seemed to see something on his screen and White came forward to see what it was, Kay braced her feet against the bottom of the pond and pushed upwards. She flew straight out of the water and landed on the ground right next to White and the man with the equipment. She punched White in the face took off running again. One of the bullets that came flying her way grazed her side, but she ignored the pain and shot straight out of the woods.

It seemed that the soldiers that had gone inside had left this edge of the woods unprotected. Clutching her side and making sure she wasn't being followed, Kay headed home as quickly as she could.

Once she was in her house, she dressed her wound and put on some normal clothes, throwing the rest into a suitcase. She jumped in her car and left for Seattle. She didn't have much of a choice. She wanted to stay in this area, but she couldn't stay in the no-name town, so she'd have to go into the city. She parked about a block away from Logan's apartment building and walked the rest of the way to it. She leaned against the wall in the elevator, breathing hard. Well, she certainly couldn't say tonight had been boring. Knocking on Logan's door, she lifted up the edge of her shirt to see the bandage. There was only some visible blood, so it couldn't be that bad. Logan looked surprised when he answered the door.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked curiously.

"Oh shut up with the nice talk. I need to know if you know of any places to stay for a while. My place isn't safe anymore."

Logan shrugged. "You could always stay with Joshua."

"Who?"

Logan seemed surprised. He gestured for her to come inside.

"I figured Max would have told you about him. He's part canine and he definitely looks like it. He gets pretty lonely though, so I'm sure he'd be more than happy to let you stay with him until you find a place of your own again. If you're not comfortable with him, you could stay with me until you find someplace."

"I think I'll check out Joshua's first." She didn't mean to sound harsh, it was just that she would feel better with someone who understood what she was going through with needing to stay hidden. Logan nodded and turned to grab a piece of paper. He wrote something on it and handed it to her.

"This is Joshua's address. You'll probably have to show him your barcode, otherwise he'll attack. He's a little territorial."

Kay nodded to show she understood, then ran back down to her car. After pulling up in front of a run down house, she noticed Max coming out with the canine-looking man from the basement in Manticore. Kay realized that he must be Joshua. She climbed out of her car. Max smiled when she saw her.

"Hey, we're going trick or treating seeing as how this is the only time Joshua can be outside. Wanna come?"

Kay grinned and nodded. She could see how excited Joshua was. When she got closer Max's face became concerned.

"You look wiped out. Did something happen tonight?"

Kay rolled her eyes. "I'll tell you on the way."

"You must have had a long night."

"You have no idea."


	6. Capture, Confrontation

****

Outside

By Be Boring

****

Chapter 6: Capture, Confrontation

It was a few nights later and once again Kay squeezed the pillow to her head. It was absolutely impossible to sleep through Joshua's snoring. He sounded like a tractor! There had been so many times when she considered putting a pillow over his face to stop the racket, but he always pushed it back off in his sleep. She finally just got up and put some clothes on. There was no way she could sleep through this, so she would go for a walk. The air was chilly. It had just rained earlier in the day, not that it was a surprise.

She rubbed her eyes as she walked. She had barely gotten any sleep for the past few nights because of Joshua. She knew that if he could help it he wouldn't snore, but it was out of his control. At least she had found a place that she might be able to afford, but the person who was living there now would be there until the end of the month. That was a few weeks yet. Kay didn't even want to consider the possibility of living with Joshua that long. Maybe she would take Logan up on his offer. He had a spare room and there was no possible way that he could snore as loud as Joshua. She could always help him with some of his Eyes Only missions. Not that she cared, but it would keep her occupied. She could always use something interesting in her life, and she knew he and Max still felt a little weird around each other because of the virus. Kay figured she could walk around until morning, and then she would go ask Logan if she could stay with him. She chuckled to herself. _If he refuses then I'm sure Alec or Sketchy will let me stay with them!_ That thought was a little too creepy for her though.

She glanced around. She wasn't familiar with this part of town. There were lots of abandoned warehouses. At one point in time this must have been a productive part of Seattle. Some rumbling noises from one of the buildings caught her attention. She moved closer and peeked through a basement window to see what looked like a lab. It was extremely similar to the one she had gotten the X6 boy out of. She studied the faces of the scientists. She recognized one of them. He must have been the one to survive after she killed the others. The memory made her cringe. She didn't really like killing. It made her feel like an animal to just throw away a life, but sometimes it had to be done. She more than understood that because of her childhood. She watched the scenes for a few moments before everything went black.

She woke up in what appeared to be a storage room that had been cleared out. She stood up and walked to the door, peering through the tiny glass window on it. The lab was right there, so whoever had knocked her out worked here. She rubbed her head where something heavy must have been brought down on it. The person who did this must have been moving very quietly to keep her from hearing them.

She pressed her ear to the door. It was made to be soundproof, so she couldn't hear what was happening, but it was old and wasn't as good at blocking out sounds as it used to be. Some scientists were talking about her.

"We'll finally get to see how Manticore made them look normal. From what I've heard about the trouble she's caused, I doubt White will care if we take her apart."

Kay's head jerked away from the door. Why the hell did everything bad that happened to her lately involve him? She was really getting sick of hearing his name. She wondered what would happen when Joshua woke up and realized she wasn't there. She highly doubted if Joshua and Max would check this area of Seattle. There would be no reason for her to be here. They also might assume that she had just moved on. She had been hinting about it.

She went and sat down on a bench in the back of the room. If she wasn't getting out of here, then there was no point in wearing herself out. Out of sheer boredom, she started counting the blocks on the walls. She was up 87 when the door opened and White walked in. She smiled up at him.

"I was wondering when you'd get here. It's damn boring in this place without someone to talk to."

A slightly darker man in a suit came in with a couple of fold-up chairs. He seemed to work for White, but obviously wasn't very sharp. She had the feeling she could work her way around him if White left. As the two men sat down, Kay had the feeling she was about to be questioned.

"Are you X5-358?" White asked. Kay decided to be as annoying as humanly possible.

"Well, that depends. That's the name Manticore gave me, but I chose myself a better name. I think someone should be called what they want to be called, don't you think?"

The second man seemed confused. Kay almost grinned. He really was an idiot. White smirked.

"Don't make this take longer than it has to, 358. I don't have the time."

"Oh, so I'll work on your schedule just because you asked so nicely. I would never want to inconvenience someone who wants to kill me. That would be just plain selfish!" She said all this very sweetly, as though she actually meant it. White shook his head and rubbed his eyes. She was starting to bug him. Good. She decided to take it a step further.

"Now, what's your gentlemen's names? You're Ames, I already know that since you so willingly gave it to me on Halloween. But I'm afraid I have not heard of you before. I take it your loving boss doesn't put much value into teamwork."

The other man seemed to be trying not to smile. This could be good if she kept insulting White.

"Of course, he doesn't put much value in other things I deem important either. He has no manners, no class when it comes to killing someone, and absolutely no fashion sense. How is anyone going to be impressed by that? I mean, he's not going to make it through on charm, that's for damn sure!"

Now the other man covered his mouth to keep from laughing, but he also looked a little shocked. Kay had the feeling that not many people insulted White, especially not in front of the people that worked for him. She also got that feeling by the pissed look on White's face. He finally opened his mouth.

"If you really must know, his name is Otto. Now can we get on with this please?"

She was definitely getting on his nerves.

"What do you need? I'd be more than happy to help." She crossed her legs and clasped her hands on her knees, trying to look as innocent as possible. She probably wouldn't be doing this if she was wide awake, but the fact that she was sleep deprived really didn't help with her judgment. White ignored her sarcasm.

"Do you know of the whereabouts of any other transgenics?"

Kay shut her eyes and pretended to think. "Hmm.... let's see. That could be one, oops, no that's definitely not one. Um... maybe her, but no, she's too religious. Perhaps... No, there's no chance there. Let's see. Hmmm..." She opened her eyes and shrugged sweetly. "Nope, can't think of anyone!"

The way he was looking at her made her want to crack up laughing. He obviously didn't like being talked to this way.

"Are you going to cooperate or not?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Just pull out the gun like you're so good at doing and shoot me, because I don't plan on helping you. I don't see why you think I would. I happen to remember being chased out of the place I'd been living since the escape. Maybe you remember that too. You _did_ flirt with me before you knew who I was."

Otto looked at his boss in disbelief. Kay held back a smile. She had deliberately let that piece of information slip. His superiors wouldn't be too pleased with that. White's look was livid now. That had been a big nerve she'd stepped on. He didn't get a chance to say anything though, because one of the scientists opened the door and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Sir, we need to discuss something about the X5."

White turned to Otto. "You keep a close eye on her. I'll be back in a second, but remember, never turn your back on her!" With that he stepped outside.

Otto looked a little uncomfortable.

"You agree with me on everything I said about him, don't you?"

Otto tried to look as though he didn't know what she was talking about. "I happen to respect him."

Kay rolled her eyes. "Respect! Ah yes, I can see why. Why wouldn't you respect a man that kills innocent people and treats everyone he knows like shit? I'm sure he's always treated you so kindly. I'm sure he could never get on with this job without you."

He didn't seem to know what to say to that.

"He doesn't treat you right, does he? If I were your boss, I would. You're obviously a man that knows what he's doing. Am I right?"

He blushed a little and tried to nod proudly. She stood up and walked over to him, stroking his arm.

"I would treat you like family, or maybe a little closer."

Otto turned to look at her. She smiled sexily at him. Maybe he would be stupid enough to fall for this. She worked her hands down until she slipped her hands onto his gun. She couldn't believe anyone would trust this idiot with a weapon, but it worked to her advantage anyways. He didn't even feel her remove it. She walked around him, keeping the gun out of his sight. She finally spotted his handcuffs. She snatched them without him noticing, walked behind him while still complimenting him, and brought the gun down hard on the back of his head. He crumpled to the ground soundlessly. She threw a quick glance out the door's window to see if anyone had noticed her up and moving around, but no one appeared to have seen her. She dragged Otto's unconscious body to where it would be behind the door when it was opened, then went and sat down where she had been before.

When White finally came back in, he didn't look for Otto. Instead he turned to her and asked "Have you been behaving?" She smiled sweetly.

"Exactly as I was taught to." Her remark made him glance around. He had just noticed Otto lying on the ground when she jumped up and punched him. It only threw him off balance for a moment, so she took the time to throw the handcuffs on him and grab his gun. She was sure he had more on him, but she didn't feel like looking for them all, and she had grabbed the one that was easiest to get to. The scientists didn't even get a chance to react as she ran through the room and out the door, firing at anyone who tried to stop her.

Once she was out she made a beeline for Joshua's. When she reached it, Max was sitting in the living room with Joshua, who was crying. Kay stopped dead in her tracks.

"What's wrong?" Max glanced down at Joshua, who nodded, so she replied

"Joshua had to kill his brother to protect me."

Kay didn't ask any more questions. Max turned to her. "I think Joshua needs some time alone. I asked Logan if you could stay with him so Joshua could recover. Is that alright with you?"

Kay smiled slightly. "Yeah, I think that'll work."


	7. Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

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Outside

By Be Boring

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Chapter 7: Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

A couple days later, Kay rolled onto her back and sniffed the air. It smelled great! She tried to guess what Logan was making for breakfast today. She had thought she'd died and gone to heaven the first time she woke up to these smells. His food was incredible, and what was funny was that he cooked like this all the time for himself. He just made some extra now that she was here. He wouldn't have to do it for too much longer though. Kay had decided secretly that she wanted to get out of Seattle. She would miss Max and Joshua, and definitely miss Logan's cooking, but after her last encounter with White, she wanted to make sure she was safe.

She still hadn't told anyone what had happened. She didn't want to worry them. She just mentioned that she'd noticed there seemed to be a lab setup in that area of Seattle. Now she was looking at a farm in Canada. She had found one of Logan's contacts who lived on a farm and knew there were some open positions. She loved the outdoors and farms interested her. What was even better was that it was a horse farm, not a dairy farm. Horses had always been a thing of beauty to Kay. They had such humanlike personalities, which amazed her since they could not be more different from people. Her job would be as a groom, so she'd be cleaning stalls and junk like that but she'd also be handling horses. She couldn't complain. The pay would be good and the contact of Logan's knew what she was and could protect her. She had asked him not to tell Logan about it though. She would prefer it if no one could find her. She would be safer that way, and happier. She wasn't used to having her sister watching over her. Max had taken the role of a mother around her. It might just have been natural for her because of Joshua, but it bugged Kay slightly. Anyways, Max would probably be happier if she didn't have someone else to look after.

Kay wandered out into the kitchen. Logan was sitting at the table eating already.

"Hey, I didn't know you people slept so late. I would have woken you up, but I didn't know what you'd do if you saw someone standing over your bed shaking you. I didn't really feel like getting a broken arm today."

Kay smiled. "Nah, I'd have probably gone for your neck first."

Logan chuckled and handed her a plate of food. She looked at it for a moment. She wasn't entirely sure what it was, but knowing Logan it would taste good anyway.

After Logan went out to meet some guy named Matt Sung, Kay packed up her stuff. She thought for a little while. She wasn't sure if she wanted to let Logan know that she was going. She finally decided to leave a note, because otherwise Max would go into a panic and start searching for her. She needed to make sure Max didn't do something stupid and expose herself and other transgenics. Her note was short, but stated that she had found a place to stay and wouldn't be back.

While she was driving away from Seattle, she couldn't help but feel a little bad about going without saying goodbye to her friends. She had managed to become friends with lots of Max's Jam Pony pals. Original Cindy was cool, and she had learned that Sketchy wasn't quite as stupid when he was sober, and even Normal wasn't so bad. He had seemed to like her, but that may have been because she wasn't working for him so he hadn't gotten a chance to get sick of her yet. She wouldn't have even minded stopping in the little no-name town to see Mark, Jason, and Katie for a bit, but she knew that probably wasn't the best idea.

The drive seemed long when she was feeling guilty the whole way, but all her guilt melted away when she pulled into the driveway of the farm. It was huge and beautiful. Rolling hills stretched out in every direction and the horses were all over. She was sure there were over a hundred there. She saw Logan's contact come out of the main farmhouse.

"Hey, Buddy!" she called. He waved to her. After going around and seeing where she would be living, which was an actual house, not an apartment, and seeing which horses she would be dealing with, Kay felt content. This was perfect. She would be safe and happy here, or at least for a little while.

The week flew by as she settled into her schedule. She had to get up at about four in the morning, but that didn't bother her. She didn't need too much sleep, just enough to keep her going, which happened to be about four or five hours. Buddy seemed pleased that she could get so much work done. They had been in need of good workers for a while now, but all the young people in the area were moving away. Kay felt a little sad at that because they didn't have to live in hiding like she did. They could go out and make something of themselves, even though in this part of the world nowadays there wasn't much they could do. At least they had a shot. Kay shook her head. She wasn't going to start feeling sorry for herself. That was pointless.

She was brushing one of the horses when Buddy walked out to her. "Kay, I gotta tell you something that I'm not sure you're going to like."

Kay raised her eyebrows. What bad news could he have other than firing her?

"I know you came out here to be away from the people who want to kill transgenics, also to get away from the transgenics themselves, but there's another one of you coming. I don't really know who it is other than that it's a male X5, but I've been told by Logan that it is top priority that he doesn't remember his past. I don't know the other details, but we're supposed to make him think that this has been his home for the past three years. You have to say that you just started work here and haven't gotten a chance to meet him because of his car crash, okay?"

Kay wasn't sure what to think. Another X5 meant there was more of a chance of someone coming up here to get rid of them. Still, if this guy didn't remember who he was, he couldn't be too dangerous for her. She nodded and went back to brushing the horse.

The wait for Buddy to come back seemed to take forever. She even took out an older horse to ride to pass the time until he returned. She wanted to see if she would recognize the new arrival. Since he was an X5 there was a good chance she would know him.

She and her horse had just reached the other side of the pasture when she heard Buddy's truck pull into the driveway. She sent the horse galloping in that direction. She could see Buddy and a man getting out of the truck. As she got closer to the fence she saw something that almost made her fall off the horse. She closed her eyes and shook her head quickly. She must have seen wrong. She opened her eyes again and stopped the horse at the fence. After tying him up, she walked towards the truck. She made sure that her eyes were on the ground. She didn't want to believe what she had seen. She would wait until she reached him to look, so she could make sure she wasn't seeing things.

She heard Buddy's voice say "Okay Adam, this is Kay." A deeper male voice greeted her.

"Hello Kay, I'm Adam Thompson."

Kay lifted her head. Oh God, she hadn't seen wrong. The man smiling at her was Zack! She kept her face locked in a kind smile as she shook his hand. His eyes showed no signs of recognition but she still didn't want to take any chances. She figured she had better start playing her role.

"I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you before the accident. I just started working here."

He ran his hand through his hair. "I wouldn't remember you anyway even if I _had_ met you before. I can't remember anything right now."

Kay looked him up and down. The last time she had seen him he wouldn't have been able to survive without being hooked up to tons of machinery and now he looked as good as new, which even she had to admit was pretty good. She didn't understand how he had been fixed up like this.

Buddy spoke up since he seemed to notice her shock. "How about we go in and get Mary to fix you something to eat like I promised at the hospital?"

Zack smiled and nodded. Kay watched him walk towards the house and tried to clear her head. She had to stop thinking of him as Zack and think of him as Adam Thompson. That was going to be tough. She turned to see that the horse she had tied up at the fence was gone. Vic must have handled it. He was always doing extra things like that. She was about to go and make sure the horse was fine when Zack called back to her.

"Do you want to get something to eat too? You've got to be hungry."

She turned to him. He really didn't know how uncomfortable she felt around him.

"I'll be up in a minute, I just want to check on the horse I was riding first." Kay could see Buddy knew she was just stalling. She ran into the barn. Of course Vic was taking care of the horse, she had known he would. She just hung around and talked to him for a bit. He was an old man with a lot to say which meant she could zone out and think about how she was going to handle things with Zack around.

After about ten minutes, she figured she should go up and eat. She couldn't have been more nervous as she approached the house. Walking in, she smelled Mary's wonderful cooking. That woman could cook anything and make it taste good. At least she wouldn't have to miss Logan's cooking.

Buddy and Mary walked past her towards the door. She reached out and grabbed Buddy's arm.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Mary smiled innocently. "We felt that Adam would be in good hands with you and besides, we have stuff to do."

Kay glared at her. "What kind of stuff?"

"Just stuff," Buddy replied for her and dragged her out the door. Kay almost growled out loud. She knew they just wanted her to talk to Zack. They didn't know what was going on, but they always liked problems sorted out right away, which meant they would make her solve her problems with Zack right away. That wouldn't really be easy considering he didn't remember anything he'd done to her in the past.

She walked into the kitchen. Zack was at the table practically inhaling his food. His face was apologetic when he looked at her.

"I don't mean to be a pig, but I feel like I've never tasted food before! I don't remember tasting it."

Kay forced a smile. "Mary can always make people feel like that. She's just a good cook." She made herself a plate and sat down across the table from him. This was just too weird for her. She was fighting the urge to turn and run out the door. He looked over at her.

"Are you sure we haven't met before?"

Kay nodded. "Yeah I'm sure, why?"

"I get the feeling I did something to upset you. You don't exactly seem comfortable around me. What did I do?"

Kay felt a pang of guilt. The look on his face was sincere. He really didn't know what he'd done, and he really cared. She sighed and thought quickly. She needed to say something so he wouldn't feel so bad.

"You didn't do anything, I'm just really shy. I'm like this all the time around people I don't know. It's nothing against you."

That seemed to satisfy him.

"I hope that changes. You're the only person close to my age here. Actually, I don't even know what my age is."

"23," Kay said before she could stop herself. He stared at her curiously.

"How do you know?"

"Buddy told me," she replied quickly. They ate in silence for the rest of the meal. When she went up to put her plate in the sink she saw him run his hand through his hair again. He had never done that at Manticore, but then again he'd never had enough hair to run his hand through. He seemed a bit upset. She took a deep breath and walked up behind him.

"Is something wrong?"

He shook his head a bit. "No, it's just I can't stand not remembering anything. Everything seems great here, so I don't know why I can't remember. It's not like my life was extremely tough or anything, was it?"

Kay wished he could have remembered just so he'd realize how funny his comment was.

"I don't know. Memory loss isn't really selective. If everything was wiped out, then the good and the bad are gone." Against her better judgment, she started rubbing his shoulders. He seemed so tense. He relaxed under her fingers, but still seemed upset. At that moment, Buddy walked in.

"Adam, your place is still being fixed up, so would you mind staying at Kay's for a while? I know that place has a spare bedroom, so it should be fine."

If looks could kill Buddy would have been turned into a human torch by Kay's glare.

"Kay, you don't mind of Adam stays with you, do you?"

Kay held back what she would have liked to have said. "How long will it be for?"

"Just a couple of days. Now that he's back we'll work extra fast on his place. So, will you let him stay with you?"

Kay reluctantly nodded her head. This was definitely not what she had planned for when she moved here.

Back at her house, she felt strange showing Zack around and telling him when she got up in the morning just in case he was light sleeper. As she lay in her bed later, wishing she could throttle Buddy, she heard a moan from the next room. She walked to the door of Zack's bedroom and peered in. He was rolling around in his sleep. He appeared to be having a nightmare. She walked in and sat down on the edge of the bed, ready to move if his X5 skills kicked in. She reached over and gently shook his shoulder.

"Adam, wake up," she whispered, knowing fully well he could hear her. He sat bolt upright and she had to move quickly before he grabbed her neck. He finally took a good look at his surroundings and noticed her.

"What happened?" he asked groggily.

"You were having a bad dream. Any idea what it was about?"

He thought for a moment. Whatever it was had deeply troubled him. "I was in a hospital room of some sort and there was a girl lying on bed. They were saying she would die if she didn't get a heart. I shot myself to give her a heart!"

He seemed shocked to hear what he was saying. Kay rolled it over in her mind. Max had told her that Zack had sacrificed himself for her. This may have been how. She sat back down next to him on the bed.

"It was just a dream, don't worry about it."

"It was so real. I could have sworn it actually happened."

"Adam, you couldn't have shot yourself. You'd have a scar."

He turned to look at her. "Am I missing any hair on the right side of my head? That's where I shot myself in the dream."

She studied the side of his head. "No, it looks fine to me."

He sighed and laid back down. It had really bothered him. Kay wasn't sure what to do. According to Buddy, they weren't supposed to let Zack remember his past. She stood up.

"I've got to get back to bed. Just give a holler if you need anything, alright?"

He nodded, still not looking at her. She walked back to her room. Her new little life had just gotten a whole lot harder.


	8. Timing

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Outside

By Be Boring

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Chapter 8: Timing

Kay sat back on the horse she was riding a few days later. The filly was newly broken to ride and didn't want to listen. Buddy had figured there was no one better than her to handle an unmanageable horse. Kay normally would have agreed with him, but this filly didn't want to listen whatsoever. She really had a mind of her own. They had been riding around for about a half hour and she still hadn't made any progress. The only thing she had managed to do was completely frustrate both herself and the horse. She hadn't exactly been at the top of her game lately though. Having Zack around distracted her. She hated it when he popped up out of nowhere, which he was very good at. She'd be thinking she was alone and would nearly have a heart attack when she realized he was standing behind her. He also wouldn't give up on his dream about killing himself for Max. Kay had tried to assure him that it was just in his head, but he wouldn't believe her. He wanted to find out for sure. That was just like him, not believing what anyone said until he had proof of it himself. He was still so much like his childhood self in many ways, but different in others. He liked being the leader, but now he took suggestions for how things should be done. That surprised her. It had used to be his way or the highway, she wondered what had changed that. She had the sneaking feeling it was because of Max.

She turned her head to look at Zack chopping firewood. He could cut straight through even the toughest piece of wood on his first try. He hadn't seemed to notice his unnatural strength, but everyone else on the farm admired it. There were a few farm hands that didn't know what Zack and Kay were, which was why she let him handle that kind of physical work. If people admired him for it, they'd go into shock if they saw her doing it. She watched him until the filly reared up. She pulled her back down, but then she bolted. She tried to divert the filly's aim from the fence, but she couldn't. They went up and over the fence and off into the woods. Kay tried desperately to slow the horse down, she knew the terrain in the woods was bad, so the filly could stumble and break something. Kay wasn't too worried about herself, she knew she could handle anything that happened to her.

She heard some shouts from the farm. They had noticed her little problem here finally.

The filly turned onto what appeared to be an old bike path. Kay tried not to feel too relieved. Despite the fact that this ground was smoother, there was still a chance for an accident. She glanced up the trail ahead. There seemed to be a dip in it. She wasn't exactly sure what it was, but she didn't get the chance to wonder as the filly pitched in head first. It was only a couple of feet deep, but the filly hadn't seen it. The filly crashed down and Kay went flying. She was unable to correct herself in the air. She knew what was going to happen a split second before it happened. She landed on her left arm and both felt and heard the loud snap. The whole world seemed to spin and got a lot more colorful. The last sight she had was of the filly's limp body in the tiny ditch, then everything went black.

Who the hell is tapping my face? Kay opened her eyes and looked up. Zack was crouched over her, trying to get her to wake up. He looked relieved when she recognized him. She glanced around quickly.

"Where's the horse?"

Zack just shook his head sadly. Kay bit her lip. The filly must have landed on her neck. After what seemed like forever, Zack spoke.

"We have to get you back to the house. You broke your arm."

"No shit Sherlock!" came her aggravated reply. She softened up slightly at the hurt expression on his face.

"Sorry, that's just my way of dealing with pain. I'll take in out on people around me. Try not to pay too much attention to it."

He studied the rest of her body. "Did you hurt anything else? Can you walk?"

Kay glanced down. Everything looked normal. "I guess we'll just have to find out." She sat up, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in her arm. Zack put his hand under her good arm to help support her if she needed it. She pulled herself to her feet with his help, but the second she stepped forward she let out a yelp. Her left ankle stung horribly. Zack eased her back down and pulled up her pant leg. She saw that the ankle was swollen roughly to the size of a baseball.

"Maybe I won't be walking anywhere soon."

Without warning, Zack scooped her up in his arms and started walking back towards the farm.

"What are you doing? Let me down!" Kay tried kicking out, but this was not the best position to aim well.

"Since you can't walk back, I'm carrying you back. You've got to get that arm looked at, and maybe the ankle too."

"It's just a sprain in my ankle," she growled. She was definitely not in the best mood.

"Still, you should get it looked at. We'll probably make a run to the hospital."

"No hospital!"

Zack looked down at her, confused. "You've got to get treated."

She shook her head.

"I heal fast. I just need the bone set for me."

Zack didn't seem to believe what he was hearing. Still, he didn't push the issue. Kay tried to relax, but she wasn't used to being carried around like a baby, especially by Zack. This made him just a little too close for comfort.

Buddy looked up as they approached and smiled at the scene. Kay rolled her eyes. He wouldn't let go of this one for a while.

"Buddy, do you know anyone who could get this set for me?"

Buddy knew she couldn't go to a hospital. He shook his head. "I don't know of anyone with medical experience." He turned to Zack. "Adam, you were good with medicine before the accident. Maybe you could set her arm for her."

Zack didn't seem to know what to say. "I could look I guess."

He set her down on the couch in the main house and looked at her arm. It looked as though a light bulb had gone on in his head. Kay knew that had been a good idea of Buddy's. The X5s all learned how to do this kind of stuff at Manticore. It was for in case one of them got injured on a mission, their partner, if they had one, could fix them up. After Zack was finished, he wrapped up her ankle as well. Mary walked over with their supper.

"Kay, you probably shouldn't be alone right now. Someone should be keeping an eye on you to make sure you don't hurt yourself more. Maybe Adam should stay with you for a couple of days. Since he stayed there before his place was fixed, he knows his way around."

Kay wished she could have picked up the phone sitting next to her and hurled it at Mary. She just didn't understand why she and Buddy kept making her do things with Zack. She sat back against the couch, defeated.

"Fine, but only for a week." She knew that was how long it would take for her to heal. After all, X5s heal quickly. That seemed to please Mary for the time being.

After getting back home, Kay just wanted to go to bed. Even though it was still early, it would be a way of getting away from Zack. Since he had insisted that she not walk on her bad ankle, he carried her to the bedroom. She lay there and kept herself busy with visions of punishing Buddy and Mary for this. She would never do that, but she was mad enough right now that the visions kept her happy.

The next morning, she wondered why it was so warm in her room. She usually had to keep her house warm through the fireplace, but that still normally left her room cold. The warmth just seemed to get worse through the morning.

She heard Zack go out for his chores. Since he was gone, she stood up and walked into her kitchen to get something to eat. Her ankle was almost completely recovered already. She didn't usually eat breakfast, but this morning she was starving. She glanced out the window and saw Zack cutting up firewood without his shirt on. She watched him and felt the room get a whole lot warmer. She had never noticed how good looking he was before, but she sure could tell now. He looked great.

She shook her head and turned back to her food. What was she thinking? Maybe she was getting sick. That would explain why she was so warm and wasn't thinking straight. She made her way back to her room. Maybe she could sleep it off.

Her dreams as she slept all seemed to be of Zack. He would stop cutting wood and come up by her. When he started kissing her, she dragged him towards the bedroom. Kay snapped awake. That was disgusting, but right now it seemed fine. She glanced down and noticed she was sweating. It was really, really hot in here. Her head snapped up as she heard someone come into the house. Through the open door she could see Zack getting something to drink. He walked to her room and looked down at her.

"How are you feeling?"

She smiled at him and looked at his sweaty body. "I just got a whole lot better."

Her gaze made him uncomfortable. "Ok, then I'll get back to work."

She pouted slightly. "Leaving so soon? Why don't you stay?"

"I've really got to get back to work."

He hurried out of the room. Kay pouted for a bit more, then groaned. She knew what was wrong now. She was in heat! No wonder she had had that strange dream about him. Nothing but her heat cycle could make her have a dream like that with him in it. She spent the rest of the day trying to focus on anything but the window.

She could hit herself for not realizing what was wrong sooner. It wasn't like this was anything new. The only difference this time was that she was in the outside world. If she had been at Manticore, they would have warned the guards not to approach her cell and she wouldn't have been let out. Her food would have been brought by a female X5 and she would have been monitored closely until they were sure she was back to normal. Out here she would have to handle herself. She tried to reassure herself. It could have been worse. She could have been captured by White right now. Right now, since she wasn't too far in, she would still be able to handle herself just fine around him, knowing that he was the enemy, but at the peak of her heat cycle, even he would look good.

A surge of panic hit her. What would she do at the peak of her cycle? She would have zero control over herself around men. She decided she needed to go to Mary. She picked up the phone to call the main house. She didn't trust herself to go across the yard with Zack right there. He might even try to carry her where she wanted to go, and then she wouldn't be wanting to go to see Mary.

Mary came over right away. Kay explained what was going on. Mary didn't seem to know what to say. It wasn't everyday you find out that someone you know goes into heat like an animal. She sat down and pondered the problem for a moment.

"We'll have to ask Adam to go back to his place. I don't know how we'll convince him to leave though. He'll want to know why, and we can't exactly tell him the truth. That may remind him of Manticore."

Kay knew Mary was right. Zack couldn't know the truth. She didn't want him remembering anything about Manticore and how he felt about her then. She didn't want to take the chance of him reverting back to that. Especially since she was injured right now. Suddenly the door opened and Buddy walked in. Thankfully, Zack wasn't with him and Kay wasn't deep enough into her cycle to be attracted to Buddy.

"I just got a call from Logan. He needs someone to tell him of a water route to get here. He wouldn't tell me why, just that it was important. Kay, you came up here not too long ago, so do you remember a path of water getting all the way here?"

Kay shook her head.

"I passed two rivers, but there was a few miles in between where one stopped and the other one started. Maybe you should let me talk to him."

Buddy pulled out his cell phone and dialed Logan's number. He handed the phone to her.

"Logan? It's Kay. Why do you need an all water path to get here?"

"Kay? What are you doing there?"

"I've been here for a while. This is where I came when I left you that note."

"Oh, Max was in a panic when she found out you'd left. She felt that she wouldn't be able to help you if you got into trouble."

"That's what I was going for. Why do you need the water route?"

"Well, Manticore created what I guess I'll just have to call merpeople for the moment. They would be able to travel on land for a little while, but they just had babies, if that's what you could call the little things that came out of the eggs. Those little guys won't last long outside water."

"I know of a good way, but they will have to be out of the water for a few miles."

"Drive down here and take them up. You can drive alongside the water and when they need to get out, you should have a large jar for the little ones ready. They should make it then."

"Okay, I'll be down as soon as possible." Kay hung up the phone. "I guess I'm going back to Seattle for a little while. I'll want to take my own car so I don't get anyone suspicious about you guys."

She packed up some food for herself. She couldn't stay long. Logan wouldn't be too safe around her. Even when she was sane she had thought he was good looking. Now she'd be all over him. She had to get going before she hit her peak.

She pulled out of the driveway before Zack could reach her and ask questions. She already had a story set up with Buddy and Mary. The drive was exactly what she needed. She left the windows down even though it was freezing outside because it cooled her off. The scenery in the country was beautiful. It was pretty much the only place that didn't look messed up by the Pulse. In reality, it wasn't much better off than the city, but at least it didn't look like it.

After reaching Logan's apartment, she was careful not to make eye contact with any men on her way in. The elevator ride seemed to be way too short. She didn't really want to confront Logan right now, but time wasn't exactly slowing down for her.

She walked to his door and was about to knock when Max opened it. Before Kay could stop her, she was being hugged.

"Don't ever run off without telling me where you're going again!"

Kay chuckled. "Alright Mom."

She saw Logan just behind Max. She quickly diverted her eyes from him. Max couldn't seem to relax.

"Where have you been? What happened to your arm? Are you in trouble? How did you hear about us needing a water path?"

Logan glanced at her. "Yeah, how did you know? The only person I called was Buddy. In case you wanted to know, Zack is living with him."

Kay nodded.

"I know. I've been living there too. It was a nasty shock for me when he showed up. To answer all your questions Max, I've been living in Canada where Zack is, my arm got broke in an accident on Buddy's farm, I am not in trouble other than my feline DNA kicking in right now in the worst way, and Buddy told me about you guys needing a water path because I had driven up there recently. Now I have some questions too. What the hell happened to Zack and why are we supposed to keep him from remembering his past?"

Max sighed and looked at her hands. For a while Kay had the feeling her questions were going to go unanswered, but Max finally started talking.

"Apparently after they harvested his organs, Renfro had some experiments done on him, which included some computer type stuff. There's a chip in his head that manages his memories and a lot of his organs have been replaced with fake ones. If it hadn't been for his blood kicking in, the left side of his face would still be metal and his left eye would be a red light. Manticore brainwashed him into thinking that Logan was responsible for sabotaging our mission to blow up the DNA lab. He tried to kill Logan. We wiped his memory clean and gave him a new life so that he could be happy and wouldn't remember about Logan so he wouldn't try to kill him again. That's what would definitely happen if Zack remembered everything."

Kay was dumbstruck. That was quite the story. No wonder they had to keep him from remembering. Max looked sad. It had to have been hard for her to give up her brother. Max turned to her.

"How is he doing?"

"He seems happy. You wouldn't believe how different he is now than he used to be. He's just a normal person now. As far as I know, he hasn't really remembered anything, except he did have a dream about shooting himself to save you. I just told him it was all in his head. I don't think he really believes me, but I think that's pretty much it. If he's remembered anything else, then he hasn't shown it."

Max nodded. At least her brother was doing well. Logan sat down.

"We should get started on getting those transgenics to Canada. Do you know what way you're taking?"

Kay nodded, keeping her eyes on her feet.

"Right now they're in a pond just outside of town." He gave her directions to get to it. From what Kay could tell, she'd have to get the babies into the jar to take them to the first river, then they could go to the next one. It wouldn't be too hard. She said goodbye to them, but not before being forced to give Max her number so they wouldn't be separated.

She drove out to the pond and studied the water transgenics. Manticore sure had created weird creatures. She walked out to them and showed them her barcode. The female nodded and pointed to her babies. Kay kneeled down and scooped them into the large jar she had. She had brought a couple since she didn't know how many babies there were. She split them up into two jars and carried them to her car. The other two followed along, holding wet blankets over the gills that were on their ribs. They sat in the back, each holding a jar of babies.

Kay drove to the first river. She could see it was hard to travel out of the water for them. The female seemed to be getting weaker already. She was the first one to dive into the water. She looked better almost immediately. Kay dumped the babies back into the water next to their mother. The father hadn't climbed in yet. Kay turned to him, making sure not to take in how good-looking he was. Besides, she wasn't even sure if he had the right parts to satisfy her cycle.

"I'll pull over to the side of the road when it's time for you to get back in."

He nodded and jumped into the water. Kay had to drive quickly to keep up with them. She was amazed at how fast they could swim. She kept her eye out for anything strange. She didn't want to get caught.

When they reached where the first river turned away from the road, Kay pulled over. The merpeople stopped as well. Once again, Kay scooped up the babies and took them to the car. After everyone was safely inside, Kay took off again. This was making her nervous that there hadn't been anyone to stop them. There was always the chance that she'd just gotten lucky, but she happened to be a paranoid person. This was just too easy. Once she got the transgenics to the next river they wouldn't need her help anymore, so she just focused on getting them there.

They were nearing it when she saw a vehicle pull out behind them. She took a good look in the rearview mirror. Big surprise. It was White and Otto. There were some soldiers in the back of the truck they were driving. Kay groaned inwardly. She didn't have a gun or anything, or she'd shoot at them. She made it seem as though she was just going straight, but she turned to the transgenics in the back.

"Hold on," she instructed and turned the car sharply onto a gravel road. She pushed her foot down on the accelerator. This car had plenty of get up and go in it, but she wasn't sure if she could outdo the truck behind her. All she had to do was get the merpeople to the river. They could get to the farm from there.

She looked back. The truck was getting closer and the female transgenic looked pretty bad. Even the male was starting to look weak. Kay looked to her left. There was no road, but she could see the river. She turned off the road and headed straight for it. She was driving across an empty field. Her foot was all the way down on the gas.

She looked around. There had to be something she could do to stall White so he didn't see her putting the other two into the water. She opened the glove compartment and grinned. She had a bottle of ink sitting in there. She had taken it from Joshua's house because it was so pretty. She had wondered why Sandeman had kept an old time ink bottle that was full. It wasn't like he needed to write with a quill. No matter what he used it for, she silently thanked him. It would definitely come in handy.

She peered back at the truck. As she had figured he would do, White had followed her off the road. She grabbed the bottle and waited for the right moment. He would be able to get the ink off, so she needed to time it so that he wouldn't have it off before she had let the transgenics loose.

"When you get in the water, just swim north and follow the river. Buddy will be waiting for you at a certain point, so you'll have to take the jars with you while you're swimming." She pulled out a picture of Buddy. "This is what he looks like. He'll get you to safety."

The male studied the picture, then handed it back to her and flashed her a thumbs up. Kay got ready to throw the ink. She had to time it perfectly. Before she had to slow down to stop at the river, she leaned out the window and threw the bottle back. Not only did it spray all over the windshield, it flew in the open side windows. The truck went into a spin as White's eyes were filled with ink.

Kay squealed to a stop by the river and helped the transgenics to the water. She glanced back at the truck and smiled as she saw the men wouldn't have been able to see her had the ink not been in their eyes anyway. After she was sure the merpeople were out of sight, Kay went to hop back in the car but saw a gun pointing out of the truck. She didn't get a chance to move as she was tasered. She went down hard and bit back a cry of pain because of her arm. She was grabbed by hands roughly and shoved into the back of the truck. She threw her good arm into the face of one of the soldiers. She knew she wasn't in any shape to escape, but she could make it tough for them. The soldier screamed as her elbow connected with his nose. The other soldier grabbed his gun and cracked it over the side of her head. Kay made sure to kick him in the groin before sliding into the blackness.

She woke up in chains. The room she was in was freezing. She looked around to see where she was. She was back in one of the Seattle warehouses, she was sure of that. For some reason she was sure they weren't going to leave her loose with Otto this time. She had been surprised to see him still working for White. Most people would have fired him for being stupidly seduced by the enemy. Maybe they just didn't want anyone else knowing about the transgenics running loose over the country.

She managed to pull herself up into a sitting position. She was chained by her legs and arms, but she wasn't fastened to anything. _Couldn't they have waited another couple of days before doing this?_ She silently waited for someone to come in. She listened hard. She wanted some idea of what they were gong to do to her before they killed her. She could hear the voices outside.

"Sir, we found something a little strange with her DNA."

"You mean other than the obvious?" White snapped.

"Well, the X5s were made with feline DNA. Not like a lion or tiger or anything like that, just your average household cat. It seems that they have hormonal patterns similar to cats as well because of this."

"What is that supposed to mean for the scientifically challenged?"

"In simpler terms sir, it means she has heat cycles like a cat. She's in heat right now as a matter of fact."

Oh great. Exactly what I wanted him to know.

"From what we can tell, it's almost over, which means she's hitting her peak."

Could someone get that idiot to shut up now? I don't need every guy in the place looking at me as their Friday night fun!

She could hear White pacing.

"Why wouldn't Manticore have found a way around this? Surely it would interfere with their missions?"

"They probably couldn't find a way around it. Most likely the females in heat would be placed in solitary confinement until it was over, and it would have had to have been scheduled around."

"How exactly will a transgenic in heat act?"

"To be frank, very horny. There's really no other word for it. I'm sure every female is different though. X5-358 may or may not have a serious heat cycle. Her peak may or may not include losing all control around a man. We really can't tell."

I just love how this guy makes me sound like the ultimate slut. I'll be fine as long as no one decides to test just how horny I am.

The door opened and White walked in. She kept her eyes on the wall.

"How nice to see you again, Ames. I was almost starting to miss you. The keyword there is almost." As long as she focused on the cracks in the ceiling, she could continue being her normal self.

"Why don't you look at me when you talk, 358? Is it that difficult?"

So he was going to push this. Fine, two could play that game.

"You haven't taken a look in the mirror lately, have you? If you had, you would see the problem I have. My eyes are supersensitive, so what your wife suffers through with having to look at your mug every day is double for me. With all the money you make killing my kind you'd think you'd at least be able to afford some plastic surgery to fix the wrinkles in your forehead, not to mention those squinty eyes. I can't help but wonder sometimes how you see."

He clenched his teeth. She was starting to piss him off. He didn't like being insulted by something he didn't even consider to be human. He walked over to her and looked straight down at her so she couldn't avoid seeing him.

"I'm not so sure that's what your problem is. I think you have some idea of what I'm talking about."

Kay shrugged, trying not to focus directly on him. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I told you my problem with you, you should just take me at my word."

"Your word means nothing to me."

"The feeling's mutual."

White shook his head and walked back out. Kay took a deep breath of relief. She had managed to keep herself under control. She was getting dangerously close to her peak. If she didn't get out soon, she would be in serious trouble. She heard White's voice outside the door.

"Otto, why don't you go in and untie her? I promise you'll be just fine."

That bastard!

Otto apparently didn't know about her condition, because he was shaking like a leaf as he entered the room. White shut the door behind him and gave him a rather sarcastic smile. Otto now looked purely terrified. Kay shut her eyes hard. It was getting worse. Peak would be hitting any second now, she could tell. Otto tried opening the door to get back out. White's voice carried in from the other side.

"Just unlock her chains Otto and I swear you'll be fine. You can trust me."

Like hell!

Otto trembled as he approached her with the keys. Kay kept her eyes shut. He fumbled with the keys as he freed her arms. Kay balled them into fists and dug her nails into her palm. She could feel him moving around by her legs. Her body started shaking. Just as he undid the chains binding her legs, Kay leapt onto him, kissing his neck. Otto went over backwards and landed with her on top of him.

Kay didn't get a chance to go farther as she heard loud thuds in the room outside her door and the door burst open. Max grabbed her and pulled her off Otto, punching her when she tried to fight back. Kay easily would have been able to take her out had she not been in her current state. Max literally dragged her out of the building. Kay noticed with some satisfaction that White had been knocked out. Unfortunately, he looked as though he was still breathing. She was forced onto Max's motorcycle and had to hold on for dear life as Max sped towards a part of town away from Logan's. Kay felt a little disappointed, but she knew it was for the best that she not be by him at this time.

Max took her into an apartment that Kay guessed she lived in. She spotted Original Cindy on the couch. OC seemed to understand what was going on and left immediately. Kay crossed her arms as Max set her down on the couch.

"The merpeople wrote down on paper what had happened and Buddy gave us a call. I remembered what you had said about the lab setup by the old warehouses, and about your feline DNA kicking in, so I came to get you before you did something you'd regret. Otto is definitely something you'd regret."

"Better than White," Kay muttered. She laid down. She'd be heading back home once she was out of heat, but for now she had better sleep her way through as much of it as possible. With that in mind, she drifted off to sleep.


	9. Changes

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Outside

By Be Boring

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Chapter 9: Changes

The only thing that seemed to have stayed exactly the same since the Pulse was the sunset. It was as beautiful to look at now as it had been when Kay was at Manticore as a child. The others had never appreciated it like her, they had thought she was weird because of it. To Kay though, it was even more beautiful now because she was looking at it from the outside, not from a cage. For most people it was a reminder of what the U.S. used to be like, but for Kay it was a symbol of her freedom.

It was a week after her heat cycle ended and she was sitting on the Space Needle, staring out at it. Max had brought her up here just to show why she liked the High Place. Kay could see her point. It seemed so far away from the problems of everyday life. There wasn't any place better to think or just relax. Now that she had mixed it with her other favorite thing, she couldn't think of any place she'd rather be right now.

Her thoughts drifted to the farm. She wondered how everyone was. She hadn't gone back right away because after she'd come out of heat, she'd realized how much she missed being here. Just going out to Crash and hanging out with Max, OC, Sketchy, Alec, and Logan was a blast, no matter if they were dancing, playing pool, or just sitting at a table drinking and talking. She had even missed Sketchy and Alec flirting with her. They were still the same idiots she remembered, and she was finding it hard to leave what she had just been reunited with. She was staying with Max and Original Cindy right now, which was plenty of fun. There was never a dull moment with those two. When Max wasn't focused on how sad she was about the virus between her and Logan, she was a blast to be around. It was funny to listen to her blow off guys that hit on her. Kay knew exactly how she felt.

She didn't know what it would be like to leave this and go back to working on the farm. She loved both places. Here it was fun and exciting. There it was peaceful and happy. There was really no way to decide. If she went back to the farm she would want to come back to Seattle. If she stayed in Seattle she would miss the farm. There was no way around that.

She glanced up from her spot when Max sat down beside her.

"What are you thinking about? You've been up here for a while."

Kay sighed. "I was just thinking that I should go back home."

Max looked down at the city. Kay knew this would upset her. "Are you ever going to come back? I got the feeling that if it hadn't been for other transgenics needing help, you wouldn't have even come back this time."

"I'll be visiting. This place is addicting. There's no way I could ever stay away too long. Anyways, you have my number so if you need help with matters down here or just need someone to talk to you can always give me call. I have your number too so I can call you if I need help or just to give you updates on Zack."

Kay felt jerked back to reality. She hadn't thought about Zack for a while. She wasn't sure if she could look at him the same way knowing that he was a machine. Well, really only part machine. The thought was just too strange for her to deal with. Something suddenly occurred to her.

"Max, how did you erase Zack's memory last time? Is there something we should be careful about?"

"I electrocuted him. That's what wiped out his memory. It could still come back, so don't let him remember anything, especially Logan."

Kay nodded. Even Logan had kind of grown on her after a while. He wasn't totally boring. She even gave him a hug before she left, which obviously surprised him. Max didn't want to let go, and Joshua nearly crushed her. Alec tried to stay cool and give her a casual wave, but she still wrapped her arms around him. Just to get him to shut up, she gave Sketchy a kiss on the cheek. Original Cindy hugged her and gave her a slap on the back as she walked away. She hopped into the car she had stolen. She had needed a new ride since White knew what her old one looked like, so she repainted this one and redid the inside so it only somewhat resembled what it used to look like. She didn't need to get arrested for car theft.

The drive home seemed long. She spent the entire time thinking about who she had left behind. She had everyone's phone numbers so she could keep in contact. Sketchy had threatened to call just to talk dirty, but she warned him that she would block his number if he did.

As soon as she pulled into the driveway she was wrapped into a bear hug by Mary.

"I thought you were coming back sooner! I was getting worried!"

Kay smiled. "I'm fine Mary. I was just hanging out with some friends while I was there."

Buddy gave her a pat on the shoulder. "I knew you were just fine. I don't think anyone could change that."

Kay didn't attempt to correct him. She didn't get a chance to as Zack came over.

"Hey Kay. Everyone missed you."

She was a little surprised as he hugged her as well. She couldn't help but think that Max had to be wrong. He felt so warm and normal, he couldn't possibly be part robot, but she knew Max wouldn't lie about something like this.

After being greeted by everybody, Kay went to her house and unpacked. It was good to be home. She had even missed her rickety old chair that everyone joked was going to break down any time now.

Time started to fly by. She was much happier now that she was talking to her Seattle friends every day and still living in such a great place. She was focused on her work again like never before. She still felt bad riding a newly broken horse because she remembered what had happened with the filly, but now she never let her attention wander from the horse she was riding. She worked harder to be nicer to Zack. Max had told her about how he felt he had let down the others by killing himself, but that he couldn't let her die. He believed he could have helped Ben recover from his psychosis had he known about it. He thought Tinga and Brin wouldn't have been recaptured if he had been a better C.O. He also had told Max that he felt bad about leaving the others behind. They deserved the chance to be free as well. Kay had never seen this side of him at Manticore. He had seemed so tough and emotionless that she had always taken it for granted that he could handle anything. That apparently wasn't the case. Knowing about his softer side made her wish she hadn't been so distant from him when he had first come here. After all, he didn't remember being mean to her and he had had a hard time of it too. It couldn't have been easy protecting all those X5s when they were all so far apart.

Kay was on the phone one night with Max when she got the most surprising news.

"You're helping find White's kid? Are you nuts? You shouldn't be helping him after what he's done to all of us!"

"I know, but just because we hate him doesn't give us the right to hurt his wife and kid. His wife had no idea what he does for a living and his son is only six years old. It's not the kid's fault his dad's a murderer."

"Maybe so, but what if White finds a way to screw you over while you're helping him?"

"You really think he'd risk his son's life just to stab me in the back?"

"I wouldn't put it past him. He risked his assistant's life just to see how strong my heat cycle was, so I don't see why he wouldn't do this."

"Otto and Ray are two totally different matters."

"I don't care. I don't trust the guy as far as Sketchy can throw him, which I can guarantee isn't that far. I won't feel right about this until it's over, then you can say I told you so if it turns out all right, but I don't think you'll be saying that."

After they had hung up, Kay wanted to go back down to Seattle. This just really didn't feel right to her. Still, Max could take care of herself and she had Alec and Joshua to back her up. It wasn't as though she was alone.

Kay spent the next twenty-four hours trying not to give in to her urge to run back to help Max. Everything would be fine, she was just being paranoid. It was because she spent the day thinking this that she nearly kicked herself when Logan called her to tell her what happened.

"Turns out White is part of a breeding cult that is pairing people up to create the perfect human being. They are as strong as transgenics and are easier to hide because as far as we know they don't have any distinguishing marks. White set up his son's kidnapping to keep his wife from suspecting, but he eventually tried to kill her. Max managed to save her but was lucky to come away from her fight with White alive. He's pretty strong. Wendy is here with us, but we have no idea where Ray is. I think the kid knew all about this. He wants to be a part of the cult. He probably even knew that his father was going to kill his mother. These people seem to have the same ideals as Manticore, such as blocking out pain with their minds and thinking emotions are weaknesses. It seems they hate transgenics. I don't really know why, but I think there's a reason for it other than wanting to be the strongest. I just have to find out what it is."

"I told Max this didn't feel right. Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. It's Wendy I'm worried about. She still is set on finding her son, and I'm sure the breeding cult is going to want her gone. She knows too much, she could expose them. I was thinking of sending her up there by you. She'd be safer that way, and Buddy can get her to safety if things get bad. Is this alright with you?"

"Sure, I guess. Wendy and I can start an "I hate White" fan club. It's kind of funny. I came up here to get away from it all and now the number of people the cult wants killed that are staying with me is gonna be two, and I've already helped another group escape from them. Figures, huh?"

She could hear Logan's smile through his voice. "Funny, Max says that same thing every day. Wendy will be up there in about 2 days. I have to go, but I'll be keeping in touch." Kay hung up the phone. Just great. Now she had a genetically engineered robot with amnesia and a woman who is married to her enemy who just happens to be part of a breeding cult living here. Not to mention an Eyes Only informant. Well, at least her life wasn't boring.

When Wendy arrived, Kay couldn't hold in her shock. She couldn't picture this sweet looking woman being married to a jerk like White, much less having a child with him. She even told her so back in her house. Wendy was her new permanent roommate.

"If you don't mind me asking, how could you be married to the guy for so long and not notice what he was?"

"You know, it was a real shock to me to find out first that he was killing people, even if they were considered not human, but it was even worse when I found out that he had set up our son's kidnapping and was part of some sick breeding cult, that I had been chosen for him. It's a disgusting thought knowing that someone saw me and said to Ames, 'You will have children with her for us.' He said that he really fell in love with me, but that it was a mistake. I don't know what I ever saw in him. I guess it's just that I had never seen this heartless side of him before. I know you have always seen him as a killer, but he didn't act like one at home. He was a great person who took our son into the backyard to play catch and who would cook a meal just so I could relax when I was sick. He came with me and comforted me at my mother's funeral and would hold me in the middle of the night when I'd have nightmares about her death. I can't believe after all that that he could take out a gun and shoot me. Even though he didn't get the chance, I could see it in his eyes that he was definitely going to pull the trigger."

After this, she couldn't seem to keep talking. Kay sat down beside her and held her as she broke down into tears. That hadn't been what she had expected to hear. It made her even more angry at White. He wasn't just willing to kill innocent people, he was willing to kill someone he loved. That disgusted her. The fact that anyone could do that seemed impossible to believe.

After Wendy fell asleep, Kay walked out to the tallest barn and climbed onto it. It wasn't really high, but it was the best she could do. She looked out at the pastures and the horses grazing in them. She wished life was as simple for her as it was for them.

She turned her head as she heard someone else climbing up the side of the barn. Zack's head popped up over the side.

"I saw you from my house. What are you doing up here?"

Kay looked back out at the land. "Thinking."

"About what?"

He came to sit beside her.

"Everything. Life is just way too complicated. It's nice to get away from it all."

Zack slid closer. "You know I'm here for you, right?"

She nodded and leaned against him as he put an arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, I know."


	10. Remembering

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Outside

By Be Boring

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Chapter 10: Remembering

This is wrong, this is so, so wrong. What was I thinking? I never should have agreed to this. Kay scolded herself nonstop. Everyone had thought she needed a break, so Buddy had suggested she take a little camping trip. Not a real one, but he had a cabin way back in the woods that no one ever went to. He told her to go there and just relax. It had sounded so good, but then Mary had brought up the idea that Zack should go too. After all, he did do so much physical work. That almost made Kay completely lose it. Mary knew fully well that Zack could manage twice the work load he had now. This was just an excuse to get her and Zack alone.

She had heard Mary telling Wendy that they definitely were soulmates. Kay snorted at the idea. She didn't believe in soulmates or fate or destiny or anything like that. She had always been taught to be a realist, so that kind of junk didn't appeal to her. And even if she did believe in that stuff, Zack was most assuredly _not _her soulmate. They were way too different.

She had been stupid to agree to this. Now she would spend her whole relaxing weekend avoiding him. She was sitting in a very comfortable reclining chair in the cabin while Zack searched the cabin. He liked to know where everything was so he could get to it if he needed it. If you asked Kay, it was a very annoying habit. She had to smile as comments came from the bathroom. He wasn't saying them to her, they were just comments to himself, but she could still hear them.

"Does Buddy have to leave his Viagra in here? Hmm, mouthwash. I should tell Mary to keep that at the farmhouse where she can use it. Same with the deodorant. And the toothpaste. Ah, hot water! That'll feel good. Damn, no soap."

Kay pressed a hand over her mouth to keep from giggling out loud. It was just so weird to hear Zack acting like a normal Peeping Tom, and a rude one at that. She grabbed her beer off the table next to her. She had a feeling she was going to have a lot of these this weekend. Zack walked out of the bathroom.

"Do you have any soap?"

She reached in her bag and tossed it to him.

"Thanks."

He turned and walked back in. She heard him start the water in the bathtub. Well, a bath would keep him occupied for a while so she could be alone.

As soon as she was sure he was settled in, she walked outside. It was a beautiful night, so she decided to do some exploring. She didn't expect to find much, but it would be fun. There was an obvious trail behind the cabin, so she followed that.

After a while, she reached the most amazing sight. It was a large clearing with a waterfall at the edge. The river cut straight through the middle of the clearing and in the dead center there was a weeping willow.

With a smile on her face, she climbed into the tree and found a comfortable spot to sit. She leaned against the trunk and looked up. The stars were really pretty. She was glad to see they were free of any Manticore signal, not that she was expecting it to be there. She didn't know how long she had sat there when she heard Zack calling her name.

"Kay! Are you out here?"

"Up here!" she called back. He strode up to the tree and looked around.

"It's nice out here."

She nodded but didn't say anything. The silence out here was too pleasant to spoil it. He stared up at her.

"Mind if I join you?"

She gestured to the branch next to her. He didn't need any more encouragement. She kept staring at the waterfall, not quite as happy now that she wasn't alone. She wasn't expecting it when Zack leaned over her and kissed her. Not knowing what to do, she kissed back. After he sat back, she looked at him questioningly.

"I was working up the guts to do it, but I didn't know how you'd react. At least you didn't freak out."

She sighed and thought carefully about how to word what she was about to say without offending him.

"It was nice but I would rather you didn't do that again."

Oh yeah, of course that won't offend him! Should have given it more thought.

He smiled slightly.

"I had a feeling you'd say that. You've always seemed nervous around me. Why is that? It can't be because you're shy. I think you just used that as an excuse when I first met you. What is it about me that upsets you?"

Kay thought frantically. She couldn't tell him why. She wasn't supposed to. There had to be something else.

"You remind me of someone I didn't like as a kid. He was really bad to me and even though you're not the same, I still can't look at you without picturing him."

Well, it wasn't really a lie, she was just making it sound as though it was a different person. And it was true that he wasn't the same. There was nothing about him now to really compare to what he had been then. Back then he wouldn't have asked what was wrong, he would have made something wrong. He wouldn't care if she felt bad, he would make her feel bad. Now he was actually very sweet. But now he was also looking at her very strangely.

"I'm not so sure that's it. Why aren't you telling me the truth?"

"I am. I can't help it if you don't believe me. That's your choice."

Zack looked at her in a way that she knew meant he was thinking about something serious, but he never let her in on what it was. They sat in silence for quite some time before heading back to the cabin. When they reached it, Kay could feel how upset he was. He didn't believe her.

Zack didn't say goodnight before he went to bed. He was still thinking. Why wouldn't she tell him the truth? A thought ran through his mind. What if he was the one who had treated her badly? He tried to shake off that feeling, but it seemed to stick. He had always thought about Kay a lot. He knew he was falling in love with her, but she didn't even seem to think of him as a friend. It was because of his feelings that he was always curious about their past. She insisted that she hadn't known him before he lost his memory, but he didn't really believe that. She looked strangely familiar to him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He had assumed that if he had known her before, he must have cared about her, so he tried thinking of her in a romantic way to see if it jogged his memory, but to no avail. Now he had to consider the possibility that he had been bad to her. He couldn't bring himself to really believe that, but since the idea was now in his head, he decided to try thinking about her in a hateful way. He tried to imagine hurting her, but he couldn't picture it. Then something came to him. Whenever he asked her about why she was uncomfortable around him, her eyes looked slightly panicked, like a cornered animal. As he focused on the memory of that look, he saw a flash of something. He closed his eyes and pictured her eyes again, then the flash came again. With his eyes closed, he tried to see what it was.

He was standing in a line of kids, all with shaved heads. His eyes were straight forward, pointing at a man who was giving orders. This man looked extremely familiar, and filled Zack with a feeling of hate. The man turned to him.

"X5-599, you are to make sure that the others make it to the other side without cheating."

Zack nodded and walked to the other side of what appeared to be an obstacle course. To normal people, this course would look impossible, but to Zack it was child's play. He nodded his head again and one of the kids stepped forward to enter the course when the man shouted, "210." The girl started and moved quickly through it. When she reached Zack, he nodded to the man, who shouted, "493." A boy stepped forward this time. Zack noticed his eyes were set on the course. That boy was very determined to make it through perfectly. When he reached Zack, the next number was called.

"656."

Another girl completed the course. As each child came towards him, Zack felt a protectiveness inside over them. Despite the fact that he did not smile or show any signs of approval at all when the others completed the course, he was proud and he cared. They were his family.

"452."

Zack's eyes followed this girl with the most interest. She moved gracefully and quickly, and made sure not to set off any traps on the way. She wasn't the fastest one done, but she had looked the most beautiful doing it.

"358."

Zack's eyes turned cold. His eyes followed the movements of the approaching X5. She moved faster than the others did, but she wasn't reckless. Her every move was perfectly calculated. There was no doubt in Zack's mind that she was better than the others. That wasn't what was bothering him. It was the fact that she was better than him. She made it through fastest out of all the children and with the best form. When she reached him, their eyes connected. Both pairs of eyes were so filled with hate that it was as though they were trying to kill each other with their glares.

The man led them to their barracks and left them to themselves. It wasn't five minutes before all the children jumped on 358. She couldn't fight them all, so she worked on making sure most visible body parts were hid. The last thing any of them needed was for the older people to find out that they had been fighting. After a little while, she dropped to the ground when all the kids jumped on her. She was in the middle of a storm of flying fists and feet. Zack stood near the door of the barracks, watching with pleasure. He felt she was getting exactly what she deserved. When he heard the footsteps of the janitor, he signaled to the others to get off her. They all scrambled to get to their bunks. When the janitor entered the room, he saw 358 lying on the ground, unconscious. She was covered in her own blood and her body was a mess of bruises and cuts. The janitor had seen this before, so he cleaned around her and went to notify a guard. About three of the guards came. None of these men were trustworthy. They studied the form lying on the ground in front of them, then picked up 358 and carried her out of the room. 452 rolled over on her cot so she could face Zack.

"Shut the door, otherwise Lydecker might think we tried to escape."

Zack got up and moved to the door silently, glancing out to make sure no one could see him. He heard Lydecker's voice scolding 358 for getting into another fight. He smiled and shut the door. He knew she wouldn't tell Lydecker what had actually happened. When he came in, the others gathered around him. They sat in a circle and 493 started telling a story about someone called the Blue Lady. Zack leaned back against the wall and stared at 452. She wasn't looking at him, but his eyes remained on her.

Zack sat up in his bed. He couldn't see anymore. Even though he still felt that strange burning hate for 358, he now knew that leaving her to be punished for what the others did was wrong. Of course, at the time he had just been looking out for his own interests. Zack decided not to think about her. His thoughts wandered to 452. He still felt happy just remembering looking at her. She was perfect, but she also seemed familiar. Zack sat thinking about it. Suddenly it came to him. He had seen her sitting in the chair just outside the hospital room when Buddy was bringing him home! He had thought at the time that she looked familiar, but she had told him she didn't know who he was. Now he also remembered her from his dream about shooting himself. He had killed himself to save her. Thinking about her caused more flashes to come. He saw himself in another cabin with her and talking to her, then outside it fighting her. She wanted to go to someone. He could see himself in a room with lots of computer equipment in it. The girl was there with another man in a wheelchair. As the flashes came faster, Zack remembered everything. He remembered Max electrocuting him! The only reason she had done that was to protect her precious Logan. Zack felt the rage bubbling up inside of him. He would kill that man if it was the last thing he did.

Zack snuck outside as quietly as he could, trying not to wake up Kay. He didn't want her to know he was leaving. He wondered what she would think if she knew he wasn't human. He approached the car and was about to get in when he heard something behind him. He looked around, but there was no one there. When he turned back to the car, Kay was standing in between him and it. She had her arms crossed.

"Adam, where do you think you're going?"

"Kay, I remember everything and I want to go take care of some unfinished business."

Kay was startled that he remembered, but he didn't seem to have made the connection between the Kay at Manticore and the Kay standing in front of him. She knew that in order to stop him from getting to Logan, he would have to find out the truth.

"Kay, get out of my way!" he growled. His voice was threatening. He was planning on using force if she didn't let him get in the car. She stood her ground and shook her head. He grabbed her arm, ready to throw her out of the way, when she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back.

"I don't think so, Zack," she replied in a calm voice. Zack was stunned. How did she know his real name, and how was she so strong? He shoved his elbow into her ribs and pulled his arm free. He punched her and sent her flying onto the hood of the car. She lay on her back for a moment, then jumped to her feet and leapt onto him, sending him over backwards. They hit the ground and rolled over as they both started punching at each other. She nailed him hard in the jaw and he brought his fist up into her chin. When he went to punch her in the mouth, she caught his fist with her teeth and bit down hard. He cried out and tried to pull his hand back, but she dug in harder and refused to let go. He stood up and yanked his hand back hard. He managed to get it out, but there was blood steadily flowing from the bite marks. She took the opportunity to kick him hard in the groin. He went down hard. She grabbed him by the hair and pulled him to his feet. She dragged him into the house and threw him onto the couch. He looked up at her.

"Who are you really?"

"My name hasn't changed. Think about it."

Zack thought for a moment. It hit him finally that 358 had been named Kay. His eyes widened and he looked at her in shock. She could see by his face that he knew and she nodded to confirm it.

"I've actually made it to my adult years. Back then I never would have thought it possible. Of course, that was thanks to you."

Zack couldn't look at her anymore.

"Why didn't you ever mention to Lydecker what we did to you?"

Kay was surprised that he knew she hadn't told Lydecker the truth. She looked at her feet nervously. She didn't like discussing this.

"What would Lydecker have done about it? He hated me as much as the rest of you did."

"He would have at least known you weren't breaking the rules."

They were both silent for a while.

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry. We were terrible to you."

"Why are you saying this? If you remember, then don't you hate me again?"

"I don't know. I hated you then, but I like you now. Now it's just the fact that I just found out you're the same person I used to hate. I really don't know what to think."

"Why don't you just go back to bed? We'll talk about Max and Logan in the morning."

Zack's head shot up, surprised. "How--"

"I've been in contact with Max and I have been keeping an eye on you for her. If you show any signs of remembering then I have to let her know and keep you here."

"You've known this whole time who I was?"

"Yeah, that's why I've been so uncomfortable around you. I can't look at you now without remembering Manticore."

Zack remembered what she had said before, about him reminding her of someone she used to know that had been terrible to her. No wonder she had been distant. He couldn't say anything else to her tonight, so he walked back into his room. He had a lot to think about.

The next morning, Zack was pleading with Kay. "Don't tell Max I've remembered anything. It's better if she doesn't know."

"But what if you go after Logan again? Max needs to be able to protect him, but she can't if she doesn't know."

Zack clenched his jaw. Kay could see he didn't like the fact that Max felt the need to be warned about him, that she considered it a bad thing for him to remember her.

"I won't go after Wonder Boy, I promise."

"What makes you think I'll believe you? Manticore brainwashed you into thinking that Logan sabotaged your mission to destroy them so they wouldn't have to worry about Eyes Only anymore, and you're buying into it every step of the way! I can't leave Logan to be attacked by you without knowing what's coming!"

"What, so now you're in love with the guy too? What is it with women and him? I know it's not his physical abilities."

"I'm not in love with Logan. It's just that he's the reason I'm alive and don't have to run from Manticore anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"He did an Eyes Only hack to tell the location of Manticore, and Renfro made the place self destruct. Max came and let everyone out, so in a way I owe my life to them and I don't have to worry about being taken back there. Of course, now there's other problems."

"Like what?"

"You've missed a lot while you've had amnesia."

Zack wanted to know what was going on. He still felt protective over the X5s, and he wanted to make sure that they were okay and would still be that way in the future.

"There's this guy that has been tracking down transgenics since they escaped, and he's dead set on making sure he gets rid of us all. His name is Ames White. I've had a few encounters with him and he is not a nice guy. Wendy was his wife. I know she's been using her maiden name Olsen so that no one around here gets news to him. She had to run from him because he tried to kill her. It turns out he's part of some breeding cult that has been working to make the perfect human being. He can fight just as well as a transgenic, and he was going to have his son sent someplace to join the cult. Since he couldn't get Wendy to leave it alone, he tried to get rid of her. Max managed to get Wendy out of there and she came here to live. I'm supposed to protect her from White."

"Have any of your encounters with this White guy happened while I've been here?"

"Just one. Do you remember when my arm was busted and I went to Seattle to stay with some friends because they were just visiting and I hadn't seen them for a while?"

"Yeah, Buddy told me about the friends."

"I was actually helping Max and Logan get some water transgenics away from White. I managed to get them out of there but White caught me and I ended up having to wait for Max to come get me out. That was certainly an interesting time."

"How many times have you come across him?"

"Let's see. The first time was when I was trying to stop him from using the Manticore signal to round up and kill the transgenics, then I got an X6 boy away from him, and there was the time he was at a Halloween party and flirted with me until he found out what I was, and I can't forget the time he caught me in a lab in Seattle and wanted to take me apart, but of course I hadn't been getting too much sleep due to my living arrangements at the time and I was a little slap happy. Then there was the one I just told you about, so I guess that makes five times in all."

Zack was looking at her strangely. She was saying everything as though it was a joke to her and wasn't a big deal. Some of these things did sound funny though. He realized she was just like Krit and Syl. They always joked about their close calls and made them sound as though they weren't important. That had always bugged the hell out of him. It was as though they didn't care if they endangered themselves, but that wasn't the case. Syl had said it was just to take the pressure off. He realized Kay was trying to distract him. She had pulled him off the subject so she could keep his mind off Logan. She could see he had figured it out.

"Your ass is staying here, do you understand? I can beat the crap out of you if you still are set on becoming a psycho killer like Ben, but I would rather not do that. I wouldn't want to have to use the measures that Max did to stop you from killing an innocent person."

Zack frowned, he didn't like being compared to Ben. He loved his brother, but the man that Max killed was very different from the brother he had known in Manticore.

"Even if he didn't sabotage the mission to destroy Manticore, he's endangering Max's life by sending her on his Eyes Only missions. She's risking her life for him just because she claims to love him. I can't let her ruin her life for this guy."

"Max is a big girl and can take care of herself, so I suggest you shut up! She doesn't need you to protect her anymore. She handled herself for ten years before you showed up and made her feel miserable, so maybe it's better if you let her get on with her life as if you never came back. From what I hear she was happier that way!"

Kay knew that had been a low blow, but she had to convince Zack to stay away from Seattle. She didn't want to hurt him, but at the moment she had no choice. He looked speechless.

"Will you stay here?"

He looked up and was about to answer when Kay heard her cellphone ring from her bedroom. She ran to get it.

"Hello?"

"Kay, it's Buddy. You've got to come back. Wendy's missing. She left a note saying that she went to get her son. You know more about the situation than I do, but even I know this isn't good."

"Ok, I'll be back in a little bit."

Kay hurried back into the living room with her bags. "We're leaving, so get your stuff."

Zack didn't ask any questions, he just grabbed his bags. Kay sped the whole way home, not caring if she got pulled over. If she could just get to Wendy before she did anything stupid, then maybe she could change her mind. Ray was part of the breeding cult now, he wasn't really her son anymore. Of course, being a mother Wendy couldn't really understand that. Blaming her would be a waste of time. The second they pulled into the driveway, Kay ran to her house and called Logan on his secure line.

"Hel--."

"Logan, Wendy's gone looking for Ray."

"What? When?"

"Just today from what I know. Do you have any idea where she might be looking?"

"No, if I can't find any leads on Ray, then I don't know how she could. Do you think she'd risk contacting Ames?"

"No. She knows he'll kill her. Anyways, he wouldn't tell her where to find the kid."

"Well, did she give any indication of where she was heading first?"

"If she did, would I be calling you?"

"I guess not. I'll tell Max if I get the chance. Call me if anything changes."

Kay was furious when she hung up the phone. Calling Logan hadn't helped anything. She didn't even know why she bothered. She went to look at the note Wendy had left. It didn't tell her anything she didn't already know. She tried to think about everything Wendy had said to her lately, hoping maybe there was a clue there. Finally, she thought she had something. It wasn't that big, but it was what she had. Wendy had once mentioned a hotel in San Francisco that White often stayed at because it was very secretive about the people that stayed there. They never let out information on their guests. Kay didn't know if Wendy would go there so White wouldn't find her while she was looking for Ray, but it was worth a shot. She sat down for a bit to figure out what she was going to do. She couldn't do this alone, and she had gotten the feeling from her conversation with Logan that Max was busy, so she wouldn't find any help there. She groaned inwardly. That left her with Alec or Zack. She didn't want to have to put up with Alec on a trip, so that meant she'd have to take Zack along. After grabbing some food from her fridge, she threw it in the car and motioned for Zack to get in as well. He seemed to know she needed him, so he climbed in without saying a word.

The drive to San Francisco was long. She spent most of it explaining to Zack what had happened to the other X5s after the escape. She also told him about everything that had happened after Manticore was brought down. She even explained about why she had been acting so strangely when her arm was broken. Now that he remembered everything, he understood about her being in heat. He told her about what life had been like for him after the escape and how he had protected the others. When he got to the part when he found out that Ben was a serial killer, he seemed nervous. The way he told it, he had refused to protect Ben after finding out. Kay could understand. Ben had been a liability. Something occurred to her and she didn't know how to approach it with Zack.

"Do you think they did the same thing to Ben as they did to you? I mean, if they can bring you back to life after you shot yourself in the head, then they could probably bring him back after having his neck snapped."

"I doubt they would have. He was crazy, if he was brought back he would just be locked up, and I don't see why they would bother."

Kay could see his point. She tried to picture Ben. She knew Alec was identical to him, but Alec was such a womanizer and was so carefree and reckless that she had a hard time imagining someone with his face as a murderer. She was still thinking about Ben when they reached the hotel. It didn't seem to be out of the ordinary. Her eyes glanced at the cars in the parking lot. It only took a second to spot Wendy's. She couldn't help feeling relieved. At least they had found her right away.

"I'm going to run distraction. That's when you find what room she's staying in and go get her."

Zack nodded and followed her in. There was a teenage boy running the desk. Kay smiled, this was going to be easier than she had thought. She gave a quick nod to Zack, who went to stand around the corner behind the boy, who was listening to a portable cd player and hadn't even noticed them. Kay reached out and tapped him on the shoulder, making sure Zack was out of sight.

"Excuse me, but are there some open rooms available? I've been traveling for a while and I need a place to stay."

"Listen lady. I don't care what your problems a--."

He had just looked up at her and seemed to be in shock. Kay smiled sweetly at him.

"Is something wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

The boy shook his head and smiled back. "No, nothing's wrong."

"Good, can you help me with some stuff in my car? I'm really not that strong, and I could use a pair of manly arms."

Zack tried not to laugh as Kay pulled the kid out the door, going on and on about how strong he was compared to her. He slid behind the desk and grabbed the guest book. He flipped through it for a bit but couldn't find Wendy's name, but something else caught his eye. Ames White had made a reservation for today. It didn't say what time he would be getting there, but it was only about five o'clock in the morning, so he probably wouldn't be coming for a while yet. Zack tried to figure out what name Wendy might have used for herself and almost could have hit himself when he saw that she had registered herself as Mary Thompson. He took a quick glance at the room and headed upstairs. He made it up to the eighth floor on the stairs and looked for her room. When he saw it, he easily picked the lock. He walked over to the bed where she was sleeping and gently shook her. She looked up at him and nearly screamed. He put a hand roughly over her mouth.

"Wendy, shut up! Do you want everyone in the building to wake up?"

He took his hand off her mouth.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"Kay remembered what you said about this hotel. We're here to stop you from making a huge mistake."

"Looking for my son isn't a mistake! You don't have to stop me, I'll be fine."

The door burst open as Kay kicked it down. "We've got to go now. White just showed up downstairs. Since I knocked out the clerk, he's going to get suspicious pretty fast."

Voices were coming from the elevator. They all sounded angry."Whoever it was knocked out that kid without putting any real work into it. That sounds like a transgenic to me."

"Sir, why do you think one of them would knock that kid out?"

"I don't know and I don't care. I just want to find them."

Wendy's face paled. She knew how bad it was for her if her husband found her. Zack opened the window and looked down. "You can make it if you use the pipe. Kay and I can just jump down."

Wendy didn't argue, she just allowed Zack to help her out the window. As she started to climb down, Zack turned to Kay.

"Kay, you go out. There isn't enough time for us both to make it before White comes through the door, and I know I can take him."

Kay walked over to him by the window. "White already knows who I am, so all I can say is I'm very sorry about this."

With that, she shoved him out the window. She glanced out to make sure he righted himself in the air, which of course he did. A moment later, White stepped through the already kicked down door, his gun pointed straight ahead of him. He looked surprised when he saw her.

"358, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Just waiting for you Ames, what else?" she said sweetly. She had to make sure no one saw Wendy climbing down the side of the building. She could hear Otto coming down the hall. She kicked out and sent White's gun flying. She knew he had more, but she could keep him busy until Otto came. White wouldn't dare use his strength against her with Otto watching. That would blow his cover. She grabbed his arm and hurled him into the wall. He caught himself before hitting it and rebounded with a hard punch. Kay managed to stay standing, but her face was stinging. He really was strong. He went to punch her again and she caught his fist with her hand and punched him in the stomach. He barely flinched at that and kicked her in the shin. A burst of pain went through Kay's leg. She let go of his fist and ducked as he went to punch her with the other hand. From her crouching position, she shot her foot straight into his knee. She heard him give a low grunt. At least that had some effect. She jumped up and punched him in the face. He grabbed her arm as she pulled it back and twisted it. She reached up with her other hand and grabbed his throat to stop him from breaking her arm. He grabbed her hand and pulled it away after only a little struggle.

"You can't win against me, 358. I'm much stronger than you are."

"Maybe so, but you have your weak points."

She drove her knee in between his legs as hard as she could. He cried out and managed to stay up, but his grip on her arms loosened. She took the opportunity to pull away and grab the phone and bring it down on his head. He dropped to the ground. He was still conscious, but she had left quite the mark on his head. Otto had heard his boss cry out and was now running towards the room. Kay glanced out the window again. Wendy still wasn't that far down. She still had a few more floors, otherwise Kay would have jumped out right then. She wasn't expecting it when White tackled her from behind. They both landed on the bed and he struggled to hold her down. He would keep her there until Otto came in and could get handcuffs on her. Kay wasn't about to let that happen. She slammed her head into his, making his head hurt even more, but he kept his grip on her. She could feel something against her ankle that was harder than his leg. She kicked off her shoe and used her toes to grab the knife that was in his sock. She brought her leg up and got the knife in her hands. It was only a pocketknife, but it would have to do. She drove it straight into his ribs. He twisted and tried to grab it, but she pulled it out and stuck it into his hip. When he reached to grab it, she managed to shove him off and get his gun that was lying on the ground. He threw the knife at her and it hit her in the shoulder. She screamed, but still fired the gun at him. It hit him in the leg. When Otto ran into the room finally, she slammed the gun into his face and took off down the hall.

After she made it to the second floor, she took the time to yank the knife out of her shoulder. Despite the stinging, she knew it hadn't hit anything important. She picked the lock into the nearest hotel room and went inside. She walked to the window and looked out. Wendy had finally reached the ground. Zack was leading her to the parking lot. Kay jumped out the window and ran to them. Wendy's mouth dropped open when she saw the blood on Kay's shirt. Kay shoved her into the truck before she could ask questions.

"I'll take Wendy's car. I can dump it somewhere and meet you back home."

"Kay, I'm not leaving you here," Zack insisted.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't need you to protect me. I've managed just fine so far without your guidance and I've gotten out of scrapes with White before on my own, so just go."

Just as Zack backed the truck up and Kay jumped into Wendy's car, White came out of the building. Blood was flowing freely from his leg and the red mark on his head still looked terrible, but he was moving as though he wasn't hurt. His eyes widened as they landed on Wendy in the truck. Kay started up the little car and drove it straight at him. He didn't have time to react before he was thrown up into her windshield. Kay screeched to a stop and climbed out.

"I'm afraid I was looking more for a bird as a hood ornament, not a rat."

He practically growled at her as she shoved him off the car, but was too weak to do anything more. She got back in and took off, knowing full well that she would have to dump this vehicle soon, and preferably on the south side of town. She didn't want him to even suspect that she was living in Canada. She drove as normally as possible, trying not to attract attention, but she couldn't help wanting to just get out of this car and head home. After she dumped it in another hotel parking lot, she hotwired a van nearby with a full tank of gas and took off. She knew she would have to make a stop somewhere, so she decided to get to Seattle and stay with Max for a while. She could call and tell Zack that she was fine, but she wouldn't mention where she was. She didn't want him coming to finish off Logan.

Logan was in shock when he opened his door and saw Kay standing there. "Kay! I didn't think I'd be seeing you for a while. What brings you by?"

"I just need a place to crash for a while. I've had a long, interesting day."

"Really? What happened? Did you get Wendy back?"

"Yeah, but not before I fought with her wonderful husband. That guy really gets on my nerves."

Logan studied the blood on her shirt. "Did he do that to you? Wait, I already know the answer. Come in and I'll fix that up for you and you can tell me what happened."

Kay spent the next ten minutes telling him everything and letting him dress the wound. It was a little uncomfortable for her to let someone else take of her for a change. He couldn't seem to believe her story.

"He really is strong then. Max got lucky that their fight was cut short. I know you're stronger than her and he managed to do a lot of damage to you."

"Yeah, but if I hadn't managed to get to the knife and the gun then he probably would have finished me off. I shouldn't have been shy with my fighting."

"What do you mean 'shy with your fighting'? Why would you have held back when you're fighting him?"

"I've always held back, well, almost always. I've known since I was little that I was much stronger than the rest, but when I was thirteen Renfro paired me to fight with another X5. It was Zack's clone, X5-600. Just looking at him made me remember being little, so when I fought him I slipped up and used all of my strength. He was supposedly the strongest of all the clones, but I killed him in about five seconds. I guess just seeing his face, even if he wasn't really Zack, made me lose control. Renfro was proud of me even though I had gotten rid of one of her strongest fighters because it just proved that I was much better. Ever since then I haven't wanted to use everything just because I'm almost afraid of losing control again. You wouldn't understand because you're normal, but having all that extra strength can really get to your head. When you start fighting and realize how much power you have, you just lose it and start using it excessively. It's kind of exhilarating, being able to do so much damage, so you just keep going until there's no more damage to do.

"I'm probably the only one who truly understands what made Ben kill all those people. I'm guessing that when Ben got out into the real world, he found out how much stronger he was than the people around him, and felt the same thrill I did. The only difference is that Lydecker was there then to stop me from using my extra strength, while Ben was all on his own. It was more than just his obsession over the Blue Lady. That was what made him go after those people in the first place, but if he just wanted the teeth then he could have just grabbed people off the streets and pulled out their teeth. It was his feeling of power that made him hunt people down like prey. He liked the fact that he could do this to them. I've always hated losing control like that, because then you become unpredictable. You might kill them quickly or you might torture them first and thoroughly enjoy it until you come to your senses later and the realization of what you've done hits you. Ever since killing Zack's clone, it's just become second nature to me to not fight with all my strength. Even when fighting enemies I've held back. I'm still stronger than the others even without using my full potential, so there's never been a need to use more. I guess though if I'm ever going to fight White again then I'm going to have to get over that."

Logan seemed a little shocked at the story. It scared him a little bit that someone so innocent looking had a dark side like that. He felt guilty about his fear though as he studied Kay's face. She really hated having that side to her. They sat in silence for another few seconds, then Max walked into the room.

"Kay!"

Kay winced as Max squeezed her tightly. Max felt it and stood back to look at her.

"Oh my God! What happened?"

Kay had to go through the whole story again, not mentioning what she had told Logan about not using all her strength. She wasn't sure what Max would think if she knew that Kay had killed Zack's clone out of rage. Kay also didn't mention Zack's involvement in the whole rescue mission. She hadn't told that to Logan either. She just made it sound like Wendy had gotten away on her own after Kay got her out of the building. She would keep her promise to Zack not to tell them about his memory coming back as long as he didn't come back here. Max's face was very worried by the end of the story, but split into a grin.

"Well, hurt or not, now that you're back you are going to have to get some partying done! You are coming to Crash tomorrow night and you're not leaving Seattle for a week, do you hear me?"

Kay grinned back. "Well, if you insist."


	11. Big Bad Brother

****

Outside

By Be Boring

****

Chapter 11: Big, Bad Brother

Kay was bored out of her mind. Sketchy had convinced her to go along on one of his deliveries. Kay didn't know why she agreed, but now she regretted it. They had been sitting on the front porch of some old lady's house for at least an hour. When they had arrived, the lady told them that her husband would be there to sign for the package in a couple minutes, she just had to go pick him up. Sketchy and Kay had agreed because they didn't know it would take so long.

"Is this old broad's idea of a couple minutes actually a couple days? I have half a mind to go in and rob her house to find something valuable to pay for my troubles," Sketchy groaned.

"You wouldn't get very far, I can hear a dog in there. From what I can see it's a rotweiler."

"What! Damn, these people should learn that those animals are dangerous. If anyone else goes in there they'll get attacked! That's not very welcoming."

"I think that's what they were going for."

About fifteen minutes later, the old woman finally pulled back in. "I'm afraid I had the dates wrong. My husband's not coming back until tomorrow."

Sketchy looked like he was about to explode. Kay wasn't feeling too happy herself. She grabbed the package from his hands and threw it to the woman.

"Forge the signature, otherwise it gets torn open and searched for valuables."

The woman looked shocked but quickly wrote down her husband's name and handed the signature to them. "I am not giving either one of you a tip!"

"Sketchy, feel free to rob her house. I'll hold the dog."

Back at Jam Pony, everyone seemed to have had a bad day. Someone had nearly run over Original Cindy with a motorcycle and Max had had to deliver a package with meat in it that apparently had been in there a while. The only person who had not had a bad day seemed to be Alec. Of course, he had only done two runs that day, and neither one had been more than a mile away from Jam Pony. He walked up behind Kay.

"You people really have to lighten up, this job's not that hard."

"Yeah, well I don't even work here and I hate it. You only have a good time because you're Normal's golden boy."

"Well, you can hardly blame me if the man chooses to worship me. Not that I'm complaining."

Kay rolled her eyes and walked away from him. She had already decided to head back to Canada today, and now seemed to be as good a time as any. She didn't want to upset Max any more today, so she figured she'd go say goodbye to Logan and tell him to give Max the news later. That would save her the trouble of having to go through Max convincing her to stay. She was also getting worried about Zack. Even though she had asked Wendy over the phone to keep a close eye on him, she would still feel better watching over him herself. He might take advantage of the time she was away to come down and go after Logan. Kay had the feeling that the only reason that he hadn't done it yet was because he had guessed she was here. He proved her wrong though.

When she pulled up next to Foggle Towers, she saw Zack enter the building. She ran in and managed to grab the elevator door before it shut behind him. She grabbed him by the hair and pulled him back out.

"I was going to say goodbye to Logan, but I guess I'll just call from home."

She dragged him into the car and took off. He refused to look at her while she drove. He knew he had broken her trust. They sat in silence all the way back to the farm. After they got out, she turned to him.

"What the hell were you doing! Do you realize that if you had attacked Logan, we might have been forced to kill you! You got lucky once because Max is soft, but she's not that soft. Going after Logan a second time would convince her that you can't be allowed to live anymore. She only let you go last time because she didn't know you would get your memory back. This time we wouldn't have been able to take anymore chances. Keep that in mind the next time you feel murderous."

Zack sighed and walked to his house. Kay only hoped that had gotten through to him. She didn't want to be forced to get rid of him. After calling Logan and letting him know she had come home, she flopped down on her bed to think. She wasn't going to be able to keep Zack's recovery a secret for much longer if he wouldn't listen to her. She didn't have any more time to think about it when Buddy came running in. He had the strangest look on his face.

"We, uh, found Vic in the woods."

"Was he missing?"

"Well, nobody had seen him all morning and Mike said he saw Vic take a horse out on the trails, but that was several hours ago. We went out to look for him and now I wish we hadn't."

"What's wrong? Is he in bad shape?"

"I'm sorry, but he's dead."

Kay was shocked. Vic was the most careful person in the world. She couldn't imagine anything happening to him. He was a sweet old man who was always willing to listen to anything you had to say when you weren't feeling well and he was very religious. He always kept a bible with him and he wore a necklace of the Virgin Mary around his neck. At first that had made her uncomfortable because it made her think of how the other X5s had believed in the Blue Lady and that she was an enemy.

"What happened to him? Did he fall off the horse?"

"No, the horse was tied up. It looked like he had stopped to eat lunch by the creek."

Kay couldn't imagine what could have possibly happened to kill Vic while he was eating, but she got the feeling by Buddy's face that he wasn't telling her everything. After she watched him for a while, he gave in and told her.

"Someone broke his neck. Judging by the way it was broken, it was somebody strong. It looks like they did it with one hand. That's not all either. He was, umm, sort of displayed on a tree nearby. Whoever did this wanted us to see him. I don't know what kind of freak we're dealing with, but Vic's teeth were pulled out."

Kay's eyes widened. Her thoughts moved to the day in Manticore they had killed the man they were only supposed to chase. She closed her eyes and shook her head. As far as she knew, Ben was the only one who did that after the escape, but he was dead. Zack had even made the point that since Ben was crazy, Manticore wouldn't have bothered bringing him back.

"What did you do with the body?"

"It's at the morgue right now, but why do you want to know?"

"I have to see it."

"What? No! Are you crazy?"

"No, I just have to see the body."

Kay was a wreck when she reached to morgue. She didn't want to see Vic, but she'd be able to tell if it was Ben or if they were dealing with some other crazy person who just happened to kill the same way Ben did. Kay knew how low the odds were that that was the case, but she had to make sure. She bit her lip as she pulled back the sheet covering her friend. She felt her stomach lurch when she saw the state he was in, but now there was no doubt. She didn't know how, but somehow Ben was alive and back to killing. There was a barcode on Vic's neck, except instead of being tattooed on, it was cut in with a knife. Apparently Ben didn't have any equipment to put a barcode on somebody.

She hurried back to the farm as quickly as possible. The sun was already down and she knew Zack was asleep. She figured it was best not to wake him. Hopefully she could handle Ben on her own. She went into the woods on foot. She'd be able to move more silently that way. She went to the creek and walked along it, looking for where Vic was killed. It didn't take too long to spot it, Vic's blood was still on the tree. She looked at the ground around it. Ben was good at covering his tracks, she couldn't see any sign that someone else had been there. After several minutes of looking for anything that might indicate what direction he had gone in after killing Vic, Kay had to give up. She wasn't going to find anything here. She tried to think of anyplace he could have possibly gone. These woods were pretty boring, and there were no caves or anything that he could hide in.

"Ben, where are you?" she grumbled out loud. All of a sudden, she thought of the cabin that she and Zack had stayed in. It was a few miles farther back, but if Vic had been singing one of his gospel songs at the top of his lungs like he usually did, Ben would have been able to hear him easily. Being an X5, he would have made it to where Vic was in about ten minutes. She took off for the cabin as quickly as she could. All the way she was trying to think about what she would see when she reached the cabin. What would Ben be like? She knew he looked like Alec, but just because they were twins didn't mean they were alike in personality. Besides, if Ben was anything like Alec he wouldn't have been a crazed killer.

The cabin seemed almost too quiet when she made it there. It didn't look as though anyone was living here, but Kay knew better. Her eyes wandered to the window. She couldn't detect any movement, but he might be sleeping. After all, it was late. She sat there for quite some time, waiting to see if he moved around, but he didn't. Finally, she moved towards the door. She peered into the window next to it, but couldn't see anything of significance. She walked around the cabin, looking in all the windows, but she couldn't see him. She heard a slight rustling in the trees behind her and she went quickly around the corner of the cabin. Ben emerged from the trees carrying an armload of wood. Kay studied him for a moment and couldn't believe what a difference there was between the man she saw now and the religious boy she had known at Manticore. Back then, Ben had almost always had a smile on his face and he loved telling stories. His imagination was incredible. Even though he had been the one to say that she was a friend of the Nomlies, she couldn't hold it against him then simply because it was obvious that he was completely misguided. He had wholeheartedly believed in what he was saying. He really had been a wonderful boy, but now he looked hardened. It was obvious in every move he made that he was a soldier, through and through. She studied his face. While it was identical to Alec's, it didn't have the ready smile on it or the light in its eyes that Alec's had. His mouth was set in a straight line and his eyes were cold and dead. There was no life in those eyes at all. He put the wood on the woodpile and entered the cabin. Kay peered through the window and watched him grab the axe out of the closet.

The entire time he was chopping the wood, Kay was trying to decide what to do. What would he do if she showed herself to him? She wondered if he would even recognize her. Either way, it probably wouldn't be a good thing. If he didn't know who she was, he would immediately attack out of self defense. If he recognized her, he might think of her as the enemy again and attack her anyway. She didn't want to start fighting him, but if she wanted to stop him from killing anyone else then she would have to. She normally wouldn't care so much, but he had killed a good friend of hers. Now that he was killing again, what was to stop him from killing someone else she cared about? She decided she had to let him know she was here. She picked up a shovel that was next to her and loudly dropped it on the ground.

Ben's head snapped up and he was at her side right away. His eyes connected with hers for an instant and she felt a chill run down her spine. His eyes were frightening and it was sad to think that they were probably the last thing Vic saw. She could tell he had no idea who she was. His shock at seeing someone only lasted a moment. His fist connected with her cheek and sent her flying into the wall of the cabin. She stayed against the wall and rubbed her cheek where it stung as he took a good look at her.

"Who are you?"

"It's probably better if you don't know."

"What are you doing here?"

"I came looking for the bastard that killed my friend. It looks like I found him."

Ben finally seemed to understand. He gave her a slight sneer. "Do you believe the same things he does?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you believe in the lady?"

Kay knew what he was doing. Zack had told her that Ben found people who believed in the Virgin Mary and hunted them to see if she would protect them. She decided to play along.

"Yes."

"Do you think the lady protects you?"

"She's always with her people."

He smiled slightly. "Then she'll protect you."

Kay let him grab her and drag her inside. She even gave a few weak kicks and some screams for effect. He put her in one of the bedrooms. She could easily get out if she wanted to, but she planned to play along for a while. Max said that he branded his victims with his barcode. She'd wait until he went to do that before revealing herself. He'd figure it out anyways when he saw the barcode that was already on her neck.

When he came back later, Kay lay perfectly still. She didn't fight him when he took her out to a chair in the kitchen so he could put his barcode on her. She watched as he pulled a knife out of the drawer and walked towards her with it. She hated that terrible smile that was on his face. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head forward. She heard him gasp when he saw her barcode. She didn't give him any time to figure out whose barcode it was. She kicked him hard in the leg and jumped out of the chair, moving quickly so he couldn't make a move against her. His eyes now wandered over her, trying to figure out who she was. Considering the fact that he had hated her with a passion, it probably wouldn't take him too long. Still, he couldn't seem to place her.

"Who are you?"

"Wouldn't you love to know?"

"Well, you must be X5. You look normal and you're about my age. Were you in my group?"

"Yeah. I'm hurt you don't remember me, Ben."

She finally turned around and held up her hair again so he could get a good look at her barcode. His eyes widened when he recognized it. When he didn't say anything for a bit, Kay decided to break the silence.

"You went out and killed the wrong old man. Don't you remember Lydecker saying not to mess with anyone with powerful friends unless you're prepared to deal with them? That's a lesson you should have remembered."

She punched him hard in the face. He toppled backwards over the kitchen table. When he pulled himself back up, his eyes were cold again.

"If he was your friend, then I killed the enemy. That's another lesson Lydecker taught us."

"Lydecker was an asshole."

Kay threw the knife he had dropped at him. He just managed to dodge it and came at her quickly. She blocked his hand from hitting her and kicked him in the ribs. She heard a satisfying 'oof' as the wind was knocked out of him. He shoved her towards the wall and came to trap her against it. As her body moved straight at the wall, she steadied herself and ran up it to flip herself back over him. Now she had placed him between herself and the wall. She grabbed his hair and slammed his head into the wall. Unconscious, he slumped to the ground. Kay did a quick search of the cabin and found the gun that Buddy always kept there for emergencies. It was loaded. Looking down at Ben, Kay wondered if she could pull the trigger. Either she would kill him or he would kill her, it was that simple. Her hands shook as she struggled to fire the gun against her will. Part of her wanted to let him live. After all, he was family even if he didn't act like it. Then again, the other part was furious that he had killed Vic in such a vicious manner.

She still hadn't decided when he groaned and woke up. When he saw her holding the gun, he knew he wasn't going to be leaving this place for a while. He sat up but made no other move. Kay decided to get some answers.

"How are you alive?"

"Our bodies can heal under incredible circumstances. Manticore wanted to see how well we heal, so they hooked me up to a machine that kept my heart going. With my blood pumping back through my body, it started to heal me. First they set my neck and leg so that the breaks would heal, then after that was done my blood healed the nerve damage that had happened in my neck. I was awake and living without the machine two weeks after they brought me in. They locked me up right away, but when Manticore was destroyed, my door opened with everyone else's. I have been moving around ever since then."

"Touching story, but I just have to ask. How many people did you kill?"

"Actually, that old guy by the river was the first one since I got out. I've been in hiding so well that I was never near enough to people to find a believer of the Blue Lady. I just happened to hear that guy singing."

"You still believe in all that crap about the Blue Lady?"

Ben's jaw clenched. "I will always believe in her. She's the only one who can protect me."

"You mean from the Nomlies? Give me a break. If you hadn't come up with all that junk about the Blue Lady and the Nomlies, then my childhood wouldn't have been made a living hell. You ruined my life once, and now you've gone and killed a friend of mine. I can't say that I'm too happy with you."

"I don't care how you feel about me. It's none of my concern. You're the enemy."

"I'm not the one killing innocent people. As far as the majority is concerned, you're the enemy. I would be doing the world a favor if I got rid of you now. Hopefully this time you'll stay dead."

"I would just love to see the looks on the others' faces when they find out you killed one of their family. They hate you too."

"Actually, I'm really good friends with Max and your twin, and I'm practically living with Zack, so I'm not too sure they would take your side. After all, Zack left you and Max killed you. Not to mention the torture that your twin had to go through because you went crazy and they were scared he would too. From what Max has told me, Krit and Syl also know about what you've done and they think she did the right thing in killing you. Think about all that and then tell me that they will hate me. They don't even know you're alive, although I'm sure Zack will figure it out when he hears about Vic."

Ben stared at the floor. He refused to look at her. Kay still wasn't sure she could kill him. She couldn't just kill another X5.

Both Kay and Ben snapped their heads up when Zack came through the door. He took in the scene in front of him without showing any emotion. He studied his brother lying on the floor with Kay's gun pointed at him. He just shook his head sadly.

"Why did you have to start again, little brother?"

Ben couldn't answer him. Kay knew a lecture from Zack would make more of difference than anything else. She lowered the gun and stepped back. Zack could take it from here.

She walked around outside while Ben and Zack yelled at each other. Some of it was about Ben killing, but most of it was about her. Ben kept insisting that she was the enemy, while Zack said she was on their side and that now, since he was risking exposure, Ben was the enemy. Kay took her attention off them when her cellphone rang. It was Max. Kay walked a good distance away from the cabin so Max wouldn't hear Ben and Zack.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I think something is upsetting Alec. All I know is it's about one of his missions. Do you remember anything about his missions?"

Kay thought for a moment. She had been on a lot of missions herself, so she had never heard much about the others'. Still, she had heard some rumors about a mission of his where he had completely messed it up by letting the daughter of his target know what was going on. They hadn't been able to determine why he had done it. Some of the other X5s said it was because he had allowed himself to care about the target's daughter. Kay had scoffed at it at the time, since they had been taught that emotions are weakness. She told Max about it.

"So he fell in love with some girl and told her he was going to kill her father?"

"I'm not sure if that's how it went. You'd have to ask him."

Kay heard a loud crash come from the cabin. _Oh great, they're fighting._

"Max, I gotta go, but call me back and tell me what happens."

Kay headed back to the cabin. Sure enough, she could see through the window that the men were having a fistfight. They weren't even using any fighting skills, just throwing punches at each other. She walked in and watched the scene for a minute. It was almost funny, seeing the two of them acting like five-year-olds fighting over a toy. They were now rolling around on the ground, still punching each other. Kay knew she'd have to break it up soon, but there was no hurry. She walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a soda. She had gone through about three of them when the two guys finally noticed her presence. Zack stood up and gave her a disapproving look.

"Why are you sitting there drinking pop when we're fighting?"

"Hey, it's your fight and I didn't want to interrupt. Besides, what fun would that be?"

"I thought you were the one who came after him in the first place."

"Yeah, but I said what I needed to say. You two apparently have a lot to work out, and who am I to interfere with that? It's none of my business."

"You actually believe that?"

"Sure. If you two feel like tearing each other to pieces and acting like little kids, then more power to ya."

"You would do nothing to stop us if we were about to kill each other?"

"I can't say I would. Like I said, it's your fight and you can fight it yourself. You were doing a beautiful job of it when I came in, so I saw no need to stop you."

Zack rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Do you always show so much emotion?"

"Usually less," she joked and smiled sweetly up at him. It only seemed to infuriate him more.

"If you're not going to be any help, then why don't you just go back home?"

"There's an idea. I think I'll do that."

With that, she got up with her fourth soda and walked out of the cabin. She turned back and rolled her eyes at the two men standing in the doorway staring after her.

"You two fight nicely, ya hear?"

She nearly burst out laughing as she walked away. Zack could keep Ben under control. Now, other than the fact that he killed Vic, Kay was almost glad that he had showed up. If anyone could get through to Ben, it was Zack, and it would keep Zack busy. Maybe it would also get him thinking straight about Logan.

When she reached her house, Wendy was sitting in the living room crying. Buddy must have told her about Vic. Kay sat down next to her and took her hand. They just sat there for a while, crying for their friend. Finally, Wendy seemed to want to take her mind off it.

"How is Adam? I know you were having some problem between him and one of your other friends. Did you get that sorted out?"

"I think so," Kay replied.


	12. Recovering

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Outside

By Be Boring

****

Chapter 12: Recovering

Kay had spent a long day trying to avoid Zack. In the couple weeks since she had found Ben, Zack had been in the worst mood possible. He had almost completely changed back into who he had been in Manticore. The sweet things about him that had made her become friends with him as Adam were now nearly all gone. He was a hardened Manticore soldier again, and most of it was because of all the fighting he was doing with Ben. Ben had been nothing but trouble for his big brother ever since his return. He was already trying to escape and Zack had just managed to stop him from killing some of the farm workers when they went for a horseback ride on the trails. Zack now had him locked in an old closet that he had managed to make 'escape-proof'. He refused to tell Kay what he had done, but she was sure he had taken drastic measures to keep Ben from getting to the outside world. She couldn't believe that Ben was so set on killing. What could possibly drive him to escape solely for the purpose of taking life?

With Ben pulling all his shenanigans, Zack was getting a serious lack of sleep and was being overworked, therefore he was not the most pleasant person to be around. He snapped at everyone and seemed to be particularly angry at her. She wasn't really sure why. Maybe he blamed her for dragging Ben back into his life, which was ridiculous because he had come into that cabin on his own, she hadn't made him. She had the feeling that if Ben kept this up much longer, that he might not live to see next week because Zack was just that angry.

Kay finally decided she had to go see Ben herself again. She wouldn't be able to talk to him like Zack could, mainly because he hated her while he respected Zack. Still, she could fight him if things got out of hand. Violence might actually be the only way to get Ben to understand that he had to stop what he was doing.

Very shortly after Zack returned from feeding Ben supper, Kay headed to the cabin. The sun would be down in a few hours and she wanted to be back by then. If she didn't, then Wendy might worry. They had become surprisingly close while Zack was in a bad mood. Wendy had a sense of humor and was great to talk to when Kay was feeling down. Everyone was still getting over Vic's death, but at least now they could joke and laugh as though nothing had happened. Wendy had been the key factor in that though. She went out of her way to talk to everyone occasionally and be friendly. People just had to cheer up with their good ole' mother bird around. Kay couldn't believe how much strength that woman had. Her husband had tried to kill her, she'd lost her son, and now a good friend, but she was still the figure of hope on the farm for everyone. She could still smile and go about her business during the day and no one could see the torrent of emotions that must be inside her. Kay wished she could handle her emotions like that, but seeing how Manticore had been against emotions altogether, it still was a hard thing for her.

When the cabin came into view, Kay looked for signs of movement. Even though she knew that Ben was locked up, there was always the chance he had gotten out. She went up to the cabin and headed inside. It was quite obvious just from taking a quick glance around that there had been many fights here recently that no one had bothered to clean up after. The couch was overturned and several windows broken. The table was missing a leg which happened to be all the way across the room and a chair lay on its side with its back smashed to pieces. Blankets were torn in the bedrooms and the mirror in the bathroom was shattered. There were handcuffs on the bed in one of the bedrooms. Kay suspected Zack had held Ben back with those for a while. Apparently Ben and Zack had fought in every room. She went to the closet where she knew Ben was hidden. She now knew what Zack had meant by making it 'escape-proof'. There were wires that looked as though they went inside. She recognized wire like that from Manticore. It gave a shock that would knock a normal person unconscious, and would certainly cause a considerable amount of pain to an X5. Kay remembered getting shocked by it once. She had been fifteen and it had made her think for a moment that she was dying. She had no desire to feel that again. She couldn't blame Ben for not getting out with that stuff on the door. She located where it was plugged in and she unplugged it. She took a deep breath before opening the door.

Before she even had the door halfway open, Ben lunged at her throat. She wasn't expecting it and the force of his weight sent her over backwards. As she fell, she bent in half and placed her feet against his hips. When they landed, she shoved up as hard as she could with her legs and sent him flying over her head. She jumped to her feet immediately and punched him as he went to stand up. While he was still stunned, she dragged him into the bedroom and handcuffed him to the bed with the handcuffs that she had noticed earlier. She took a step back and studied him. He had gone through quite a few changes since she had last seen him. He was a lot thinner now and he looked tired. Kay suspected that he had been working on escaping so much that he wasn't getting the sleep he needed and wasn't eating enough. She snuck a glance at the closet. Sure enough, there were several half eaten meals lying in the back of it. Well, if he wasn't at his top strength, she'd be able to handle him easily enough.

"Well, that sure didn't take long for you to attack. Is it becoming second nature to you now to attack first and ask questions later?"

"I thought you were Zack. I thought if I could catch him off guard then I could get away."

"No one can catch Zack off guard. Why are you so set on escaping?"

"You didn't know?"

"No. Why? Should I?"

"The reason I want to escape is the reason Zack wants me to stay locked up."

"Would you stop pussyfooting around and tell me already? I already know that you want to kill people."

"Not just any people. You."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Why would you be set on killing me?"

"You're the enemy. If it wasn't for you, Zack wouldn't be keeping me in a cage. He only did this in the first place because he wanted to protect you. I'm not interested in killing anyone else. Those people riding horses just happened to be there when I was coming for you. I was going to leave them alone but Zack caught me near them. I don't know what you've done to him, but you have screwed him up enough to make him choose you over me, his own brother. His real family."

"Oh please. I would feel truly sorry for him if you were his real family. I wish you guys would think realistically. Technically, none of us are family. You and Zack are no more of siblings than you and I are. You're not related to Max, Syl, Krit, Zane, Jondy, or any of the others. I'm not either. It's true that we're made the same way, but other than that we're not family. The only people that I would say are related to us are our clones or twins. Your only real family is Alec, and it's a good thing that you two haven't met because I think it would end up as a disaster. Zack doesn't owe you anything. He and I being closer that we used to be isn't a threat to you. I wish you would understand that, because this isn't getting you or Zack anywhere. He's the biggest grouch in the world right now and you're a homicidal maniac that's after me. You both need to stop this or you're going to end up miserable. An added bonus of you two stopping this would be that I can live, not that I think you could have killed me. In the state you're in, you probably couldn't kill a normal person."

"And who's fault do you think that is? Yours."

"No, not mine. Yours. I know you think that if Zack wasn't so protective of me that you wouldn't be trapped here, but the fact of the matter is that if you weren't so set on killing me in the first place, Zack wouldn't have to be protective of me."

Ben couldn't seem to think of anything to say. Even he could see that she definitely had a point. Still, Kay knew that didn't make him change his mind about how he felt about her. He still hated her and wanted her dead. That was more than obvious in his eyes. Kay knew she wasn't going to get anywhere tonight. Without another word to him, she turned and went back to the farm. She knew perfectly well that he could escape, but all she could hope was that if he did, he would go away. She knew it was selfish of her, but she couldn't help it.

When she made it back to her house, she instinctively looked for Wendy on the couch. That was usually where she was at the end of the day, but right now she wasn't there. Kay walked through the whole house to see if she was there, but there was no sign of her. She started to head to the main farmhouse, but then remembered that Buddy and Mary were going out tonight. Zack had headed out tonight to pick up some new horses that Buddy had bought. Kay highly doubted that Wendy would have gone with him, since everyone was avoiding him in his current mood. She went to the barn to see if Wendy was there for some reason. As she walked through it, she noticed an empty stall. She knew perfectly well that the stall belonged to Gramps, an old Morgan gelding that everyone liked to take for rides because he was the easiest to handle. She headed straight to the tack room. Sure enough, a saddle and bridle were missing. _Dammit, I'm not in the mood to come looking for you tonight!_

Kay was about to go back to her house, but froze halfway there. Ben! What if Wendy had come home early, found her missing, and went looking for her? Kay knew Ben could get out of those handcuffs and might even be out of them now. She couldn't take the chance that Wendy would come across him. She took off for the woods at top speed. Now that she was paying attention, there were definite signs that a horse had been out here recently. She couldn't be more that twenty minutes behind them, but that was too much time. She had nearly reached the cabin when she heard someone scream. That definitely sounded like Wendy. The scream had come from her right. Kay found herself in a clearing. There was no sign of people, but Gramps was grazing comfortably on the grass. She ignored him and looked for any clue as to which direction Ben had taken Wendy. She finally saw something shiny on the ground. As she drew closer, she knew it was Vic's Virgin Mary necklace. Wendy had kept it as a memory of him and she never took it off. Kay moved in that general direction, and finally heard some commotion from up ahead. It sounded like someone was fighting. When she finally saw what it was, she could have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious.

Ben had a good, firm hold on Wendy's arms, but she was kicking his shins like crazy as he carried her along. He was holding her easily off the ground, so she could kick away if she liked. All it seemed to be doing was annoying him. He eventually just threw her to the ground and took a good step back to avoid the next kick she aimed at him.

"Would you stop that? It's bugging me."

"You expect me to show any courtesy to you? I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm not going to make it easy for you!"

"You honestly think that those childish kicks are going to make it any harder for me?"

"You let me go, didn't you? Not that I think that'll last for long, but kicking you did something at least."

Ben sighed and picked her up again. Kay walked out to block his path, which wasn't hard considering the fact that he was carrying a feisty woman. He rolled his eyes when he saw her.

"What are you doing here?"

"Getting my friend. I suggest you let her go. I really hoped that you would stop all this nonsense, but I guess I was wrong."

"For your information, this friend of yours saw me in the woods and wouldn't leave me alone. I'm just putting her somewhere for a while so she won't bother me again. The one I want to kill is you."

"Yeah, so you've said. Why don't you just give her to me and save yourself the trouble?"

"Fine, take her."

With that, Ben dumped Wendy right on the ground at Kay's feet. Everyone looked up when Gramps wandered into their sight, staring at them in interest. Ben turned to walk away when there was a loud crashing sound and a very strange looking person ran in front of them. He didn't even glance at them as he raced past. It only took Kay a second to figure out that it was a transgenic. This one seemed to have a lot of lizard in his system. She realized that she had seen him at Manticore just after she jumped the fence. Ben's eyes widened when he saw it.

"Is that a --"

"No, it's not a Nomlie. There was never any such thing. They're just other transgenics that don't look quite as normal as we do. We need to protect them just as much as we need to protect the other X5s. Wendy, take Gramps back to the farm. That guy was running from someone, and that usually involves your dear husband. We can't let him know you're here."

Wendy nodded and took off for the horse. Kay ducked out of the way just in time to see a group of military-looking men dash across the path. As she had expected, White was right behind them. His eyes landed on Ben and widened. Kay realized that he must have thought Ben was Alec. She had no time to react as half of the men grabbed Ben while the other half went after the other transgenic. The sound of a gun being fired and a loud thud told her they had caught him. She watched as they dragged Ben away. She glanced back over her shoulder to make sure that Wendy had gotten away, then followed White.

They all ended up at what appeared to be a party for the few rich people left. She rolled her eyes when she saw that it was at a golf course. _What is it with old rich folk and their golf? _She also saw that there seemed to be plenty of working girls here wearing sexy dresses. She rolled her eyes again and followed White into what looked to be a mansion at the side of the course. Apparently it was a private golf course. She followed him to the living room, which could have been a football field due to its size. White seemed to be meeting one of the men from the party. The man also seemed to own the mansion.

"What is it you need, Ames?"

"I need to leave a couple transgenics in your hands until they can be moved to a better facility where we can finally get some tests done on these freaks."

"Of course. There is a safe room in the basement. You just go to the end of the hall, down the staircase, and it will be the second room on the left. It can only be opened from the outside. I'll have some of my security guards the door for you. Go out and have some fun at my party. Fenos 'tol."

"Fenos 'tol."

Kay groaned inwardly. It was one of White's breeding cult buddies. That might make things a little harder. It wouldn't surprise her if his security was part of the breeding cult as well. She walked out to watch the party for a moment. She would have to knock out that guy if she wanted to stop him from calling security. White walked past her hiding spot as he wandered out to join the party. The man of the house followed him closely. When he ran into a waiter carrying a tray of red wine, he blew up at him and headed inside to clean it off. That might buy her a little time. She spotted a woman who seemed to have had too much to drink. She would have to do. Kay walked out to her and put an arm around her waist.

"Okay, I think you should go lay down girl. You look like you're about to lose all this fancy food."

The woman didn't even look up to see who was talking to her, but just allowed herself to be pulled into the mansion. As soon as she passed out, Kay pulled off her dress and threw her into a closet halfway down the hall. Stepping into a bathroom, Kay put the dress on. At least it fit her nicely. She took a look in the mirror. It was a long black dress with spaghetti straps and what felt like a built in push-up bra. She rolled her shoulders, trying to get comfortable. She hated push-up bras. The skirt reached all the way to her ankles, and a slit on her right leg went all the way up to her hip. She frowned, knowing one wrong move would show those old geezers outside more than she wanted them to see. She liked the shoes, which were black high-heeled sandals. They gave her a little height. All in all, she looked pretty good. She had seen men's reactions to her before. According to Mary, she was a knockout.

Kay could tell some people agreed with Mary as she walked out onto the golf course. Every male head turned in her direction as she passed. She kept an eye out for White, but focused on trying to find the man of the house. She saw him walk out of the house. He must have been only a minute behind her, but he didn't seem to know that she was here. Kay walked up to him and smiled as sexily as she could. She wasn't really sure if she looked stupid or not, but she apparently didn't because he seemed impressed by her. Seeing him up close, she figured she could take him on in a fight if she had to. He appeared to be in his early fifties, with some gray hair, but was otherwise in great shape. Maybe the people from the breeding cult didn't age the same as everyone else. She slid an arm around his shoulders.

"Where do you think you're going in such a hurry?"

"I have to make a call, but I can be right with you after that."

"Can it wait? I really just want to have you to myself right now."

He grinned at her and she tried not puke. _If I have to flirt with someone, why can't it be someone better looking?_ He seemed to think he was as impressive as he found her. That certainly wasn't true. She caught White heading in their direction out of the corner of her eye and pulled the man into the house. At least White didn't seem to have recognized her. She turned her attention back to the disgusting man beside her.

"What's your name?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Call me old fashioned, but I at least like to know names beforehand."

"Gregory, but you can call me Greg," he smiled. _Ooh, I get to call him Greg. What a thrill._

She pulled him into another room to try and avoid White seeing them as he approached the house. The room looked like a trophy room. She reached out and picked up a golf club that was next to one of the trophies.

"You know, I think golf clubs are so misused. They really are kind of elegant looking, but frankly, they're useless."

Greg had no time to react before she whirled around and swung the golf club into the side of his head. As he slumped to the ground, she joked, "Well, maybe not!"

She dropped the golf club, stole the keys from Greg's pocket, and hid right behind the door as White rushed into the room. When he went to see if Greg was still alive, she slid out the door and locked it behind her with the keys. Making it to the basement was easy when she followed the instructions Greg had said before. She heard movement on the other side of the door. She unlocked it and opened it to find Ben and the lizard transgenic sitting at either side of the room with their backs to each other. The lizard guy's left leg was bandaged at his knee where he had been shot.

"Are you two enjoying yourselves?"

Both heads snapped up at her voice. Ben seemed a little shocked at the way she was dressed, but didn't say anything. She turned to the lizard guy.

"Who're you?"

"Mole, but according to this guy I'm someone named 'Nomlie'. Who's that?"

Kay grinned. "Nothing you need to worry about. I don't suppose you want out of here, unless you like being taken apart by scientists."

Mole shook his head. "No, you can get me out of here any time you want as long as it's right now."

Kay rolled her eyes and studied the chains they had used to restrain them. They were padlocked to the wall. She grinned when she saw that she held a key to fit the lock. It seemed that Greg wasn't too careful about security. He probably thought too highly of himself to think that anyone could hurt him. Once they were loose, Mole turned to her.

"How am I supposed to get out of here? I can't exactly walk straight out into the party and slide out unnoticed."

Kay thought for a moment, then remembered the closet she had shoved the drunk woman into. It had a few large coats in it with hoods. They could sneak him out in that. She motioned for him to follow her, then proceeded to find the closet. As she was helping him get the hood positioned so that no one could see his face, the zipper on the back of her dress broke. She had to grab it quickly before she flashed Mole and Ben. Neither one had noticed, but as they walked through the party for the road, she had to hold the back of her dress. Ben gestured to where everyone had parked along the road.

"I can hotwire one of those."

There was no more discussion as he broke into a car at the back of the group so that no one would notice them.

"Hey you! What are you doing?"

Kay looked up to see two security guards walking towards them. She gestured for Ben to keep going with what he was doing as Mole hid behind the car. She turned and walked up to the men.

"Hello boys. My men are having some problems getting into our car. They tell me it's almost as temperamental as me."

The guards were already checking her out. She struggled to keep a good hold on the back of the dress while trying to look as good as possible. She heard the vehicle finally start behind her, but while Mole was climbing into the back, his hood fell back and exposed his face. The guards were about to look in that direction when Kay quickly let go of her dress and let the top fall down.

"Oops, I'll have to get that fixed."

The guards were staring at her in shock. While they were still gaping, Ben pulled the car up alongside her and she jumped in while pulling her dress back up. She ignored the stunned looks she was getting from Ben and Mole. Mole finally offered a grin.

"I know you wanted to get us out and all, but I think anyone will agree that that was above and beyond the call of duty. You don't even seem embarrassed."

Kay shrugged. "We weren't made to be shy."

At that, Mole burst out laughing. Kay really wasn't sure yet what to think of him, but he seemed ok. He certainly wasn't the monster Ben thought he was. She glanced over at Ben to see what he was thinking, but his face was a blank. When he noticed her looking at him, he scowled.

"Zack wouldn't have approved of what you did back there."

Kay grinned mischievously. "Of course not. It was exposure!"

Kay and Mole cracked up while Ben rolled his eyes. She wished he would loosen up. She knew if he just smiled he would be good looking. He was great looking as it was, but way too serious. She had always found Alec to be an extremely handsome man. Annoying, but handsome. The car lapsed into silence for a while, except for Kay having Mole fix her dress, which she was surprised that he managed to do so fast. She highly doubted Renfro had taught any of her soldiers how to be seamstresses.

"Where do you want to be dropped off, Mole?"

"Just drop me off back in the States. I know that sounds like a bad idea, but that White guy followed me up here from there and hopefully won't be expecting me to go back. Besides, I can get to Terminal City. It's where most of the transgenics who don't look normal are going."

Kay nodded. She had wondered what White was doing in Canada when his job was in the U.S. She hoped he didn't stick around. She couldn't risk him finding Wendy, or her for that matter. Mole finally climbed out when they reached the border. Kay figured she would just head to Seattle for yet another visit. She seemed to be making a lot of them lately. Ben seemed to be heading for Seattle anyways. She hoped he didn't pay Max a surprise visit as well.

They were nearing the city when a woman ran in front of the car. Ben swerved the car to the right and went straight off the road. He and Kay both jumped out of the car before it collided with a tree. Kay sat up and looked for the woman. She couldn't have gone far. There was no sign of anyone, so she stood up to get a better look. She couldn't have been looking for more than five seconds when she was tackled from behind. She caught a glimpse of the shocked look on Ben's face as the person behind her knocked her to the ground. She looked back and gasped.

"Brin!"

Brin's eyes were cold as she surveyed Kay. "How do you know my name?"

"Don't you remember?"

Kay had seen Brin on several occasions in Manticore, but it was usually during an exercise that Brin led, so she most likely had never taken any notice of Kay.

"I don't know who you are, but you nearly ran me over and you know my name. I think that's a little suspicious."

Her voice didn't seem to hold any emotion. It was like she was an empty shell. Kay slowly got to her feet. She didn't want to send Brin into attack mode again. Brin's eyes were searching Kay's face. Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"You're from Manticore, aren't you?"

"Yes. Maybe it's a good thing you don't remember me."

Brin looked at her harder. Her eyes widened suddenly. "You're 358."

"I prefer Kay."

"You're the enemy."

"Why does everyone say that?"

"You were sneaking out of your quarters at night. You were to be used for harvesting organs."

"Manticore is gone. Why are you bringing this up now?"

Brin's face hardened more, if that was possible. "Manticore is not gone, it's just regrouping."

"Oh really? Then why aren't you with them while they're doing it?"

Brin couldn't seem to think of an answer. Kay smiled triumphantly. "It's because they're not regrouping. Manticore is gone and you have no one to give you orders anymore. I really don't understand what your problem is with that."

"We weren't meant to live on our own. We were meant to have a C.O."

"You apparently did fine for the ten years you were out. So have the others. It's true that Manticore designed us to be soldiers, but what they forgot is that even soldiers are human. We may not fit the exact description of human, but nevertheless we are."

Brin frowned. "I'm a soldier!" That was when she dove at Kay. Kay managed to stay standing as the full weight of her sister hit her, but Brin was already attacking while Kay tried to keep her balance. After she took a deep breath, Kay blocked Brin's next punch and sent a powerful kick into her ribs. Brin went flying backwards and landed in the ditch. Ben shot Kay an angry look and ran to see if Brin was alright. She had almost forgotten he was there.

Even Ben got a shock when Brin threw an elbow into his shoulder. He stumbled backwards and stared at her, obviously stunned. Brin's attacks continued, while Ben just blocked them. He didn't want to hurt her. Kay watched for a moment. Brin was very strong, there was no doubt about that. Ben was pretty strong too, even in his half-starved and beaten state. He was able to block every move Brin threw at him. He didn't seem to be able to believe that she was trying to harm him. Kay finally stepped in and grabbed Brin by the shoulders and threw her. Naturally, Brin landed on her feet, but it gave Ben some time to back away. He wasn't going to be able to keep fighting her.

Without warning, Brin turned and took off. Kay followed closely. She knew Ben was a little ways behind her, but he wouldn't be able to keep up. She wouldn't be able to depend on him for back-up, not that she was sure she could anyways. Brin seemed to be running towards an old barn that was about three hundred yards ahead. Kay thought she saw someone else coming towards it from the other side, but she blinked and it was gone. She focused on staying on the path of her sister. It didn't take long at all to reach the barn, and Kay followed Brin's lead as she leapt onto the roof. She dropped into a hole in the ceiling. She had almost thought she'd caught a glimpse of someone's head poking over the side of the roof, but she had dropped through the hole before she could get a better look. Besides, there was more important stuff to think about at the moment.

The inside of the barn smelled like it had been unused for a while. Kay had to cover her nose to try and keep the disgusting mix of smells out. She was standing in the haymow at the moment, while Brin had already dropped off the side of it. Missing the eyes that peered over the edge of the hole in the roof, Kay jumped down to ground level. Brin had strangely disappeared, but Kay saw what looked to be a tack room over in the far corner of the barn. Perhaps Brin was hiding in there. Kay looked into it, but it wasn't her sister that she saw.

"Lydecker?"

His eyes looked up from the chair he was sitting in. It was definitely him, although he wasn't in good shape. Deep scars on his face made him nearly unrecognizable from what he used to be. His body was notably thinner than it used to be, and none of the weight loss appeared to be healthy. Clothes that looked as though he hadn't changed them since before he lost weight hung limply from his bony body. They were torn and bloodstained, but it didn't seem to be fresh. His eyes were sunk back in his head, and at the moment they were focused on her. He didn't seem to be able to see her clearly, and if he did, he didn't recognize her.

"Who are you?"

"You don't want to know."

His eyes squinted as he tried to get a better look at her. "358? I never thought I'd see you in a dress, but then again I never thought I'd see any of my kids in anything but a soldier's uniform."

Kay sneered. "We're not your kids. I'd feel sorry for anyone that had you for a father."

He smiled slightly. "You always were different. You were stronger and smarter than the others, and you had less emotion. Despite how hard we worked to fight it, you kids all came out with feelings and individual personalities. You were the only one who seemed to really be a soldier. I never saw you smile, laugh, cry, or even so much as scream. I never knew if you were keeping it all inside or if you really didn't care. Which was it?"

"That's none of your business. I thought you're supposed to be dead. What happened to that wonderful dream of mine?"

He ignored her last comment. "When I was run off the road, I thought it was over. After it happened, I was in bad shape. The whole steering unit had been shoved down and was trapping my legs, but I didn't think they were broken. My face had been thrown against the steering wheel, so that wasn't in too good of shape either. If Brin hadn't come across me and pulled me out of there, I would have still been in there when White and his men came down to see whether or not they had killed me. Brin lit the car on fire so it exploded before they could see that I wasn't in it. They then just assumed that I had died, and Brin brought me here. She knew the truth about Tinga and no longer believed I had killed her, and she's protected me since then. That's why I'm not too worried about you at the moment."

When his eyes glanced behind her, Kay whirled around and managed to block the punch that was coming at her face. Before Brin could attack further, Kay put on a burst of speed and got out the door and into the open space of the barn where she knew she could fight better. Ben was in the barn by now and was looking suspiciously at a pile of hay in the corner before they came in. Brin started attacking fiercely, and it was all Kay could do to block her. She let her mind slip back into what Max jokingly called soldier mode. She started predicting what was coming next and blocked it before it happened, which allowed her more time to get in some blows on Brin. The two women seemed to be match for each other, neither one being able to overpower the other. Kay was surprised at how much stronger Brin was now as compared to how she used to be. She knew that this was a situation where she wasn't going to be able to hold back, she'd have to go further.

As Kay fought, she forced herself to think back to when the others at Manticore beat her. Brin was usually right at the front, always trying to show off to Zack. As she let that picture freeze in her mind, a very familiar feeling came back. It was an anger that she had felt then, her longing to catch one of her siblings alone, rather than having them all on her at once. It had come back when she'd fought Zack's clone, and it was what had made her lose control and kill him so quickly. As the anger came, her strength increased. Brin managed to punch her in the face and turn her halfway around from the force. Kay kept the spin going and brought up her right leg to kick Brin firmly in the collarbone, sending her sister flying across the barn. Even though she had overpowered her, the anger was still there. A hard smile came over her face as she walked to where Brin had landed.

"Damn girl, I wish Manticore had designed me to fly like that!"

She grabbed Brin by the hair and pulled her to her feet. Her next punch sent Brin into the wall. As she went to drag her to her feet again, Ben grabbed her shoulder.

"Kay, stop it! You've already beaten her!"

Even though she knew it was true since Brin was unconscious, Kay whirled on him and grabbed him by the throat, when a little voice in the back of her head cried out in protest. _What are you thinking? This is what happened last time! You've got to calm down!_ Kay shook her head to clear it and let him go. She was angry with herself for almost losing it again. She looked over Ben's shoulder to see that Lydecker had appeared in the doorway to the tack room.

"Not that bad, 358."

Kay was surprised when Ben spoke. "Considering the fact that she just beat one of your best soldiers while keeping that dress covering her ass, I think that 'not that bad' is a bit of an understatement."

Kay could have laughed out loud at the expression of shock on Lydecker's face. He probably hadn't expected Ben of all people to defend her. She hadn't expected that either, but she was grateful. Probably in a choice between her and Lydecker, he'd be on her side. What also made her smile about his remark was the fact that he sounded so much like Alec when he said it. Lydecker, however, was not amused.

"I would have never thought you, of all people, would be insolent. That should be announced to the public that we have sarcastic transgenic serial killers running around."

"We'll be sure to tape a 'Shoot Me' sign to your back before you make the announcement," Kay smirked. Lydecker frowned.

"You've changed too, 358. Before you never responded to insults, and that was why I thought you just didn't care, but now you're more insolent than Ben. You almost sound like Max."

"I'll take that as a compliment. After all, you never did manage to capture her yourself. She always outsmarted you. She's good at that. She can piss off anyone by outsmarting them, no matter how clever they think they are. She's still continuing her legacy today as a matter of fact. You should be proud."

"Oh believe me, I am."

"Well, I have no interest in being around you any longer than is absolutely necessary, so I think I'll be going. Have a nice life, Pops."

She turned and was about to jump back up into the haymow when she heard a distinct rustling noise behind her. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw the hay pile shift ever so slightly. Someone was hiding in it, she was sure of it. Ben and Lydecker hadn't noticed, so she walked over to the pile herself and shoved her hand inside. When she connected with something hard, warm, and hairy, she grabbed it and pulled it out. Everyone froze as she pulled Ames White from his hiding place by the hair on his head. He stood the rest of the way up and brushed the hay off his black suit, then smiled slightly.

"Listening to you people is actually quite interesting. The fighting was pretty good too. Still, I don't have to time to sit around and listen to you discussing your family history, so I think I'll just finish the job I followed you here to do."

Kay ducked just in time to avoid the fist coming at her face and she tackled him around the waist. They landed in the haystack and immediately started to try and get the gun at his hip first. Both their hands were on it, but Kay had her hands on the trigger. As soon as she was sure it was pointed away from her, she fired. The bullet grazed his leg, but he didn't even react. His focus was unbroken as he tried to wrestle the gun from her. She took hold of his left arm and wrenched it backwards. The snap rang out loud and clear in the barn, and she saw his face go pale. She pulled the gun from him and backed away from the haystack with it pointed at him.

"We are all getting out of here, and you will stay right there until I tell you to move. Got it?"

He nodded coldly, never taking his eyes off the gun. Ben gently shook Brin awake and told her she had to get Lydecker out of there. She didn't respond, but it was obvious she had heard him because she went to get Lydecker. Between Ben and Brin, they managed to get him into the haymow. Kay could hear them behind her, but she refused to take her gaze away from the man in front of her. As she heard them getting out through the hole in the roof, White spoke.

"I have to say that I haven't met as many people as determined as you to piss me off. You are hiding my wife, you've helped other transgenics escape, and on various occasions you've embarrassed me in front of the people I work with. You'll even go as far as to seduce a friend of mine and flash his security guards so you could get others away from me. I heard about that whole story from the guards themselves. Of course, they didn't know what you are. I even saw you at the mansion, I just didn't know it was you. I saw Greg going inside with you and I was coming to remind him that he had to call security to get them to guard the door, but you had him completely distracted. Of course, wearing that dress and acting like you're in heat again would distract anyone. You aren't by any chance in heat again now, are you?"

"No, but there's no point in you asking. It would take a lot more than my heat cycle to make you look appealing."

It surprised her when he actually smiled. He almost looked human. "There's that attitude again. You sure never seem to run out of things to say, do you?"

She shrugged. "What can I say? I'm talented."

When she heard everyone get off the roof, she moved backwards and jumped into the haymow, keeping the gun pointed at him at all times. She took it with her when she got out of the barn. She could see White's car in the distance. She grinned slightly and motioned for the others to come over to her. Ben could already see what she was thinking and smiled with her. She couldn't believe how fast he had seemed to accept her. They headed in that direction. Once they were inside, Kay climbed into the driver's seat.

"I want to drive this puppy. I think we'll go to Canada and dump it in a lake, seeing as how White will probably search Seattle for it first."

It wasn't too hard. Once they were across the border, they took it up on a steep hill, put it in neutral, and let it slide down. Wherever it landed would be where White would find it. As they walked towards the road, Kay wondered how she was going to explain to Buddy that they now had three more people coming to live at the farm. Oh well. She'd do it somehow. She couldn't help but smile. Her little family, no matter how hard she tried to stop it, was getting bigger.


	13. Mirror Mirror On The Wall

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Outside

By Be Boring

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Chapter 13: Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall

Buddy, Mary, Brin, Zack, and Kay were all sitting in the farmhouse with the radio on as loud as they could get it, trying to block out the noise from outside. Even though it was about three in the morning, there was no possible way to sleep. Ben and Lydecker were out in one of the barns, having one of their famous fights. Through a mutual agreement, there were no physical attacks simply because then all hell would break loose. Brin would attack Ben because she felt it was her personal duty to protect Lydecker, and Zack would attack Lydecker because he and Ben had become close ever since Ben and Kay had came to a silent truce. Pretty soon those four would be fighting, usually Lydecker coming out of it in the worst shape, and even Kay couldn't possibly hope to stop it. It was like trying to cut your hair with a butter knife; it could be done, but it would take a while and it wouldn't be pretty. After a while, Ben and Lydecker had managed to keep it strictly verbal between them, but that was almost as bad as when they used fists. They were loud enough to be heard anywhere on the farm, and it drove everyone as nuts as before.

"I'm going to give that old bastard a horse tranquilizer. Maybe that will shut him up," Zack growled. He was cracking his knuckles and running his fingers through his hair, which was a sign that he was about to blow. Kay suspected that Mt. St. Helens would be considered minor in comparison.

Brin's eyes practically glowed. "Maybe I should go out and snap brother dearest's neck. Again," she added with the slightest glimpse of a sarcastic smile on her face. When Zack's eyes landed on her, Kay motioned for Buddy and Mary to leave the room. She didn't want them to get caught in the crossfire of this one. Come to think of it, she didn't want to get in the middle of it either. Just before she shut the door behind her, she heard the explosion.

"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU PROTECT HIM?! HE MADE OUR LIVES MISERABLE BACK IN MANTICORE! BEN IS OUR BROTHER! HE--"

Kay shut the door quickly before she had a chance to hear anymore. She could almost predict what was going to come out of Zack's mouth, so there was no point in listening to it now. It was too bad she had been stupid enough to let Lydecker and Brin come to the farm. Ben was okay now, but now it was the other two that made Zack a terror to live with again. He had been a little surprised when she had walked into the yard with the little trio tagging along behind her. Actually, a little surprised was an understatement. He'd nearly had a heart attack! For one thing, she had come towards him holding Ben's arm where Brin had managed to do a lot of damage when she was attacking him. He looked like he had about five joints in his arm instead of one. It wasn't a very pretty sight. Of course, Zack also hadn't expected two people he had thought were dead to just appear out of thin air one day. Kay had told Buddy the truth, but had warned him not to tell Logan. The story they had made up for the other workers on the farm was that Lydecker and Ben were Kay's father and brother, and that Brin was Ben's girlfriend. That was laughable, considering Lydecker and Ben couldn't look at each other without saying something insulting, and Brin seemed to hate her brother. Personally, Kay got along with each one fairly well. She and Lydecker were polite to each other, but that was pretty much it. Neither one voiced their opinions for the other. Brin was living with her and Wendy, which actually had turned out nicely. Wendy and Brin hit it off, even though Kay hadn't thought there was enough human left in her sister to really become friends with someone. Brin was nice to Kay, even though they weren't exactly best pals.

The strangest thing to Kay was how close she and Ben had become. He seemed to have forgiven her for their past and hadn't once mentioned the Nomlies, which Kay took as a good sign. She had filled him in on what had happened ever since he had been 'dead', and he had asked her numerous questions about Alec. He seemed curious to find out what his twin was like. When he had asked if they were anything alike, Kay had burst out laughing. Poor Ben had sat there, completely confused by her behavior, and it had taken her at least fifteen minutes to get enough air in her lungs to tell him what was so funny. When he found out what a womanizer his twin was, even he had smiled. It was a real smile, one that just lit up his face and took out the cold deadness that had been there before. She wished he would do that more often. He reminded her a lot of Alec when he let his guard down.

At the moment, Kay was making a beeline towards her house. Unfortunately, it was close to the barn that Lydecker and Ben were currently fighting in, but she could deal with that. She just wanted to get as far away from Zack and Brin as possible. Wendy offered a strained smile as Kay walked through the door. The fighting was getting to her. Kay tried to smile back, but jumped slightly when the phone rang.

"You get it. It's probably your sister checking up on you again," Kay told her. Wendy's sister, Julie, was the only outside person that had been allowed to contact Wendy. The thing that annoyed Kay was that she seemed to take advantage of it too much. Wendy picked up the phone, but after a moment she held it out to Kay, smiling.

"You lied to me. It's for you."

Kay tapped her temple and grinned. "Damn telepathy. I can never get it to work right!"

Wendy laughed and walked away to let Kay talk privately.

"Hello?"

"Hey.....Logan.....no answer.....main house.....things okay?"

"No, everything's fine. There's just some farmhands having an argument. What did you need?" Kay noticed that there seemed to be quite a bit of static on the line. Logan was calling from a payphone somewhere.

"I ..... tell you ..... coming up there ..... Eyes Only mission ..... need help ..... anytime now ..... Max can't ..... shot ..... do it?"

"What? I can barely hear you over the static. What are you saying?"

"When.....explain everything.....there.....now."

"I'm sorry Logan, but I can't hear you. Should I come down there? Logan? Hello?"

She frowned as she hung up the phone. He made it sound like he needed her help on an Eyes Only mission and that Max couldn't help, but she had no idea if she should go down there or not. When Wendy came back into the room, she looked relieved.

"I saw Lydecker leave the barn, so I think they'll be done fighting for a while. Was that Logan? I thought it sounded like him, but I couldn't really tell through the static."

Kay nodded. "Yeah, but we got cut off before I could really tell what he wanted. At least I can ponder it in peace." She jerked her head in the direction of the barns. Wendy smiled and dug into the bowl of ice cream she had brought back with her. _That looks REALLY good right now._ She headed into the kitchen to make a bowl for herself. She glanced out the window as she opened the cupboard. Wendy hadn't mentioned Ben leaving the barn, and its light was still on, but she could see Ben walking towards the barn right now. Who was in there? She watched him walk in, then heard loud bangs. Damn, another fight was starting up. Who was Ben fighting with?

When Kay reached the barn, she had to blink hard and rub her eyes a few times. She had to be seeing things, but when she opened her eyes again it was all still there. She could see Ben laying on the ground where his attacker had thrown him, but she could also see him standing up and staring down at himself on the ground! The Ben on the ground sat up and raised his hands almost as if in surrender.

"Whoa! Calm down buddy! Maybe you should get back in the mirror where I usually see you!"

Kay studied him a moment, then groaned. "Alec?" she asked in shock. He looked up at her.

"Hey, I have a twin. Why don't you go get one too?"

She shook her head. "From where I'm standing, it doesn't look like much fun. What are you doing here? Ben, don't worry. You've heard me talk about the holy terror that Manticore made to look like you, and here he is."

"Hey, I'm not a holy terror! And I'm only here because we have to do one of Logan's stupid Eyes Only missions for him since Max went and got herself shot."

"What!"

"Oh, she tried to do the hero thing and save a kid. She'll be fine, but I thought Logan was supposed to tell you when he called you?"

"He was trying, but I couldn't hear him through the static. I guess he tried to use a hospital payphone to call me. What's the mission?"

"Some kids Max and I saved a while back have been stupid and somehow managed to slip up about who they are. We have to get them out of some hostage situation going on with this guy who's trying to sell them to the highest bidder."

"Are they the kids Max gave all the funny names to?"

"Yeah, but...hey, how did you know about that?"

"Um, Max told me about them once," Kay lied quickly. He still looked slightly suspicious, but he accepted it. He rose to his feet quickly and warily eyed his twin. Ben didn't seem to like looking at him too much either. Kay couldn't help noticing how different they were. As far as general looks went, they were identical. Even their hair was the same length. Still, Ben had much more soldier-like eyes. Even though he had changed considerably since Kay had found him, he was still a lot more serious and more of a soldier than Alec was. Alec's eyes almost danced with a mischievous light and a smile always played on his lips, even in a serious situation.

Everyone jumped up at a harsh voice behind them. "What the hell is going on?" Kay spun around and saw Zack standing in the doorway, eyeing the situation and looking as though he couldn't believe it. Alec grinned and sent him a casual wave.

"Hey big guy. Long time no see."

"What are you doing here?" Zack scowled.

"Just visiting. Do you know who I am?"

Zack was about to reply when Kay made a slicing motion across her throat. Alec would for sure tell Max if he knew about Zack regaining his memory. Zack seemed to get the drift. "No, but you look exactly like my friend here."

Alec shrugged nonchalantly. "Weird coincidence, huh?"

Zack nodded, then repeated his earlier question. "What are you doing here?"

"I need Kay's help with some business. Is there a problem with that?"

Dammit, we don't need another fight! Kay shot Alec an angry look and dragged Zack out of the barn, saying she needed a word alone with him.

"Kay, what does he need your help with? If he lives with Max, why doesn't she help him?"

"Don't get mad, but it's an Eyes Only thing. It has to do with other transgenics, so don't you even start on some rampage about how Logan's missions are dangerous and pointless. I'm doing it whether you like it or not so don't even argue. I can kick your ass if I have to."

She spotted Alec appear in the barn door in the corner of her eye. If he was going to listen in, she'd have to be more careful. She made sure Zack saw her gesture in Alec's direction without Alec seeing it. He nodded, but continued talking.

"I don't trust him. He's new, and I don't want you to have to depend on him to get yourself out of a bad situation. I'm coming with."

"There will be no bad situation, and I can take care of myself just fine. If anything, he'll have to depend on me if, and I repeat _if_, there is a bad situation. You stay here. There'll just be all-out chaos if you come along, you know that as well as I do."

He frowned, but there was obviously no changing her mind. He turned and flashed Alec one of his famously hard looks, then walked to his house. Alec walked over to her.

"How did you manage to get a bunch of guys on your tail like this?"

"What are you talking about?"

"That guy that looks like me has definitely got the hots for you, and I think anyone with half a mind can tell that Zack is nuts about you. Getting off the subject here, I thought my twin was supposed to be dead? I don't know the story since Max won't tell me, but I am pretty sure he died somewhere along the line. What's up with that?"

"Alec, you have to swear to me that you won't tell Max about Ben. She doesn't need to deal with him right now, and yes, Ben did die. I don't have time to give you the details, but Max is in a lot of pain over him and it's probably better if we wait until a time when things aren't so hectic for her. I don't think she'd want to hear about him right after being shot. Besides, he's working on getting his life back together and will probably tell her himself in his own time. Do I have your word that you won't tell Max anything?"

"Yeah yeah yeah. Is it really such a big deal?"

He cringed slightly at the look she gave him, but he got the point. "By the way, what should I call Zack?"

"Just call him Zack."

"I thought he went by Adam?"

"Not anymore. Don't tell Max that either."

"Okay, so when are we gonna get going on this mission thing?"

"Let's eat first. I think you should eat a good ways away from Zack and Ben. We've got others here too that you wouldn't want to see."

"Okay, I'll be ready to go after that though."

"Fine."

A few hours later they were climbing into Alec's newly stolen truck and headed for the kids. Kay only hoped that they made it there in time. She glanced back through the rear window and noticed the tarp that was in the back of the truck. Alec was so stupid. Zack was probably hiding under it. She signaled for Alec to stop, which he did without asking questions despite the fact that he was obviously full of them. She climbed out and ripped the tarp off the back. Her eyes widened when she saw who was laying there.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Ben cringed slightly at her tone of voice, but seemed fully prepared to stand his ground. "I don't trust him and I figured I should come along just as backup."

Kay knew perfectly well that he was talking about Alec and that what he was saying was true, she and Alec should have backup, but she still wasn't happy with it. Those two would most likely fight the entire time. Well, Ben was better than Zack right now.

"Get up in front."

She ended up being squashed between Alec and Ben, which was pretty strange when she'd look back and forth. _This is going to take some getting used to._ There was a long, awkward silence because nobody knew what to say to each other. After a little while, Kay noticed that Alec kept looking into the rearview mirror. She would have passed it off as him just being careful, but it looked like something was bothering him.

"What's up?"

He frowned slightly and looked into the rearview mirror again. "There's a red truck that's been following us for the last ten minutes. I even took a gravel road to see if I could lose it, but it's still there."

"Is it White?"

"No. He's way too busy dealing with Max and some crazy doctor to be worried about us. It could be his men though."

Kay turned in her seat to try and look out the back window. Sure enough, there was a red truck behind them. She let out a groan. Both Ben and Alec glanced at her with their eyebrows raised.

"What is it?"

"That's not White's men. That's Zack."

Ben turned to look over his shoulder and nodded when he recognized the truck. It looked like big brother had decided to come along on their little joyride. _Can't he just accept it when I tell him I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself?_ Alec pulled off to the side of the road and let Zack catch up to them. As soon as Zack stopped alongside them, Kay nudged Alec in the side.

"Get out, I have to talk to him."

Alec rolled his eyes. "Do you think I'm nuts? You'll just get into a fight with him and as funny as it might be, I need you at top strength if we're going to get those kids."

Kay glared at him for a moment, then reached over him, opened the door, and climbed right over him to get out. He tried to stop her for a bit, but then just rolled his eyes and sat back to let her through. Zack got out of his truck and met her just in front of it. He kept on his hard look despite the fact that she was matching it.

"Is there a reason that you just had to follow us?" Kay snapped.

"I was planning to stay home, but I saw Ben sneak into the back of your truck. What did you expect me to do?"

"Ben's a big boy, you didn't need to make our little party here any bigger. The larger the group, the larger the chance of one of us being caught. You should know that. From what I've heard you enforced that rule quite a bit with the escaped X5s."

She watched him clench his jaw. That last one had struck a nerve.

"I can keep myself hidden if need be, but I don't trust that other guy you're with. What's his name again?"

"Alec, and he was in Manticore as long as I was, so it's not like he's stupid when it comes to something like this. Ben knows what he's doing too, so you can just turn around and head home anytime now."

"You know I'm not going to do that."

"Yeah, I know. You're such a dumbass," she growled as she went to get back into the truck with Alec and Ben. Alec rolled down the window.

"As long as he's coming with us, why don't you ride with him? It's kind of close quarters in here."

Kay nearly screamed out loud but she turned and got in the truck with Zack. Great, now she could fight with him the rest of the way too. Thankfully, he stayed quiet for the rest of the ride. She almost smiled as she watched Alec and Ben keep turning to each other in the other truck. It was obvious that as soon as she wasn't in there anymore to act as a barrier, they were fighting again. Couldn't anyone get along out here?

Everyone finally pulled off the road near a large building. Kay thought it looked like a prison, which it probably was or used to be. Alec got out and walked around to the back of his truck. He grabbed the tarp that Ben had been hiding under and removed it, revealing what was practically an arsenal. There were four handguns and two machine guns, as well as eight grenades and several knives of all sizes. Alec turned to face Zack and Kay as they approached.

"Since I thought it was going to be just me and Kay, I didn't bring enough for all of us. I had it set up so that we would each have two handguns, one machine gun, four grenades, a long knife, and two pocketknives. I guess we'll have to divvy it up a little differently. I say Kay and I get the machine guns, Zack and Ben get the long knives, and we'll all get a handgun, two grenades, and a pocketknife. Thankfully, I brought enough belts with holsters for everyone just because I was being careful, so we'll all get one. How does that work for everyone?"

Zack frowned slightly. "Why do you and Kay get the machine guns?"

"Because we're the ones who were originally supposed to be on the mission. Is there a problem with that?"

Kay stepped between them as Zack started to move forward. "No, there's no problem. Right?" She shot Zack the toughest look she could muster up. He held her gaze for almost a minute, then sighed and nodded. Ben nodded as well, so everyone got suited up. Kay glanced over at Alec.

"Where'd you get this stuff?"

"Cat Burglars R Us."

"Don't be an idiot. Where would you get stuff like this nowadays?"

"I never reveal my sources. Just be happy I got it, okay?"

She shrugged it off and slipped her handgun into its holster on her belt, hooked the grenades onto it, and bent down to slide her pocketknife into her sock. She knew that everything was loaded, Alec would have seen to that earlier. That was just how they were trained. She just hoped she wouldn't have to use any of it.

Everyone followed Alec's lead. Logan had given him the layout of the building when he was back in Seattle, and he had memorized it up and down. There was a basement window that didn't have bars on it, so Alec smashed it and climbed inside. Kay was the last one to get in, and she was keeping her eye out for any approaching guards. So far they didn't seem to have been spotted. Once they were inside, Alec gestured towards the ceiling. When Kay looked up, she noticed that there were huge vents up there. Alec stepped over so everyone could see him.

"Kay and Ben will go up into the vents, Zack and I will cover from below. That's so we all have a machine gun with us. There's a main room on the second floor with all the controls for the locks in it, so that's where we're headed. Everyone got it?"

They all nodded and Ben reached up to pull down an opening on the bottom of the vent that Alec pointed to. After he jumped into it, Kay went after him. Zack shut the opening behind her and she followed Ben straight ahead. He paused for a moment, then they heard tapping ahead. Alec was letting them know the coast was clear. When they reached the end of the tunnel, Ben stood up and braced his back against one side with his feet against the other. Once he was set, he started sliding himself up towards the next floor. Kay waited until he was far enough ahead, then did the same thing and followed him upwards. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the next tunnel when she was far enough up. They continued following Alec's taps until they were in the room. Kay couldn't have been happier to get out of that enclosed space. She preferred being able to move freely. She heard Alec swear behind her.

"What's wrong now?"

"The locks are all controlled by a computer system, and I'm not that good at this stuff. This isn't what they had me specialized in."

Kay sat down in front of the computer. "Lucky for you, they taught it to me." It took her awhile to work through the security blocks set up, but she finally managed to unlock the locks. After logging off the computer, Alec led them down the hall. Kay tried to keep her eyes focused on Zack's back as they walked. This place reminded her too much of Manticore.

"Shit! We've got company," Alec grumbled. Kay could hear approaching footsteps far ahead of them. Whoever it was wasn't close enough to see them yet, but they were aware someone was here. Alec opened a door on their left and slid inside. Once everyone was in, the smell hit them. Kay nearly gagged as she covered her nose with her hand and looked around. They were in a laundry room, or at least it had been used for that once. Now all the old clothes that for some reason had never gotten washed were covered in mold and so was the rest of the room. The air reeked of mold and body odor. Alec grabbed hold of the grate covering a large air vent in the corner of the room with one hand.

"Could someone help me with this thing? I would be able to do it myself, but I don't want to use my other hand for anything other than covering my nose right now."

Ben reached over with one hand and they pulled off the grating. Luckily, it didn't bend so they would be able to put it back on once they were inside. Alec climbed in first, followed by Zack, Kay, and finally Ben. It was extremely narrow so they were all crammed against each other in single file. Alec grunted in the back.

"Stop pushing! I can't go back any farther than this!"

They could hear voices and footsteps out in the hallway. Kay just hoped they stayed out there. She couldn't help noticing how hot it was in the vent. After only a couple of minutes, her hair was plastered to her head. She also couldn't help noticing that the others didn't seem to be affected by it. None of them had so much as a drop of sweat on their faces. She tried to ignore it, but it was really starting to get to her. Even her stomach was growling like nuts now. _What's up with that? I ate a huge meal before we left._

Ben removed his hand to sneeze, then glanced back at them. "Does anyone smell that?"

Alec snorted from the back. "You mean other than the obvious?"

"It's not the stink. It's something else. What is that?" He sniffed the air a little bit, then turned to Kay. "Is that you?"

Kay raised an eyebrow. What could he be smelling on her? Zack and Alec removed their hands from their faces and sniffed the air as well, then turned and looked at her in shock. Kay didn't know what their problem was, she couldn't smell a thing. Zack backed away from her as far as he could before Alec practically screamed in agony.

"Kay, you have to get out of here fast."

"What are you talking about? Why do I have to go?"

Alec managed to choke out his own version of an answer despite his lack of breathing room. "You may not be feeling it just yet, but pretty soon you're going to be one of the horniest people alive and we'll be right there with you."

Kay was furious. She had known she was due for a heat cycle soon. She had to have the worst timing ever. "Well this certainly isn't the most comfortable spot for me to be fulfilling my heat cycle, so I think I'll go." She squirmed her way past Ben, trying to ignore the way her body was reacting to him. It was starting fast. It wouldn't be too long before she'd be completely out of control. She shoved the grate off the wall and climbed out. The footsteps outside had stopped. The guards must have heard her getting out, but that didn't really surprise her since she hadn't exactly been quiet. She threw open the door before they had a chance to react, grabbed her machine gun, and whipped it in a wide arc around her, knocking out most of the men. One of the leftover guards grabbed her left arm and tried to get the gun out of her hands. She smiled at him.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you're fine?" she asked huskily. Before he could answer her and before she could go farther, she dropped the gun from her right hand and punched him directly in the nose. She knew perfectly well that she had broken it as he tumbled over backwards. She turned and smiled at the other men. They certainly were good looking. She shook her head as hard as she could. It would be a bad idea to get distracted now. She pulled one of the grenades from her belt, pulled out the pin, and dropped it behind her without them seeing. She grabbed her gun and backed up quickly. As soon as the men started to approach her, she turned and took off running. It was a good thing she was fast because the grenade went off the second she rounded the corner. Despite the screams she heard behind her, she didn't stop running. If she did then there was a chance she might go back to the vent where the X5 men were.

Kay was nearly out of the building when she heard shouts from the hallway to her left. People were fighting, possibly the kids she was here to get. She was almost to the room where she figured the fighting was taking place when a little boy ran out of it and ran straight into her. She looked down at him in shock. She recognized him as Bugler, so the other kids had to be inside. She opened the door to see about seven guards trying to battle the X6s. Despite the fact that they were so much older and larger than the kids, they were losing miserably. Kay decided that she'd better stay back. She might do something she'd regret if she tried to fight the guards. As it was, she couldn't help noticing how good looking Zero was. The whole thing probably only took two minutes. The guards were just no match for a bunch of transgenic kids. When they were done, Bullet and Zero turned to her. Zero took a step back.

"I don't know who you are, but I know you're an X5 because there's no way you could smell like that if you weren't. It's probably best if we keep our distance."

Kay nodded and tried to turn her attention to the girls and Bugler. Ralph offered her an understanding smile, took her arm, and led her out of the room. Fixit and Bugler followed close behind. Kay looked up ahead and saw Alec, Zack, and Ben round the corner and head towards them. While Ralph shoved Kay down the nearest corridor, Fixit pointed back at the room where they had been, then grabbed Bugler's hand and dragged him after Kay. Bugler was the one who broke the silence.

"How are you gonna get us outta here?"

Kay thought for a moment. The question hadn't occurred to her before. Finally, she grinned. "We'll take Alec's truck." She knew they had no idea who's truck she was talking about, but they didn't press her about it. Kay nearly laughed out loud. Alec's truck was much bigger than Zack's and a lot more comfortable. They would kill her for taking the nicer truck when they had more people, and those people were bigger. She couldn't wait to see their faces. After she was out of heat of course.

When they reached the truck, Fixit climbed into the driver's seat. She smiled apologetically at Kay, but Kay knew it was for the best. She'd probably drive them straight into the ditch if there was a cute guy on the side of the road. After they were all situated, Fixit driving, Kay on the passenger's side with Bugler on her lap, and Ralph in the middle, the guys came out. Kay burst out laughing as Alec came running towards them, shouting obscenities the whole way. She smiled sweetly and waved at him through the window as Fixit squealed out onto the road.

When they got back to the farm, Kay ran straight to her house. Ralph shouted after her, "What do we do?"

"Wait until the guys get here and have Zack figure something out!" Kay shouted back. She had to get to her house before the guys got here. She came bursting through her front door, much to the surprise of Wendy and Brin who were eating breakfast. Her words were probably something they were even less prepared for.

"I'm in heat, you gotta hide me!"

Wendy sat there in shock, but Brin nodded with a slight smile on her face and took her to the basement. Thankfully, there was shower and gym equipment down here so she could keep herself under control. She managed to thank Brin before jumping straight into the shower. The only thing she was aware of was that this was going to be a long couple of days. She wasn't herself enough to even notice that that was the first time Brin had smiled here.


	14. As I Lay Me Down To Sleep

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Outside

By Be Boring

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Chapter 14: As I Lay Me Down To Sleep

"Kay! Get up! Come on!"

Kay grabbed her blankets and brought them up to cover her head, struggling to drown out the voice. It didn't work as well as she'd hoped.

"Kaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy! Come on, I'm going in a little while and I want to at least say bye! KAY!!!!!!!"

She groaned and raised her hand into the air to extend her middle finger to the intruder. She heard a laugh and some pressure on the bed. One second later Alec was pulling the blanket from her head and talking in her ear.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart! I'm not going away 'til you get up. I can bother you for hours if I want to."

Suddenly, Kay was bombarded by the worst thing she could ever possibly hear.

"I can be your hero baby, I can kiss away your pain, I will stand by you forever, you--"

Kay shoved him as hard as she could and smiled when she heard a loud 'thump'. Alec laughed from his new spot on the floor. "What, I thought girls liked that song?"

"For one thing, I hate that song. For another, Manticore may have made you talented in many ways, but singing was not one of them. We should have reminded Renfro to give us singing lessons."

Alec laughed. "Okay, I'll try this again. I'm leaving in a couple minutes and I wanted to say bye before I went. After all, it was such a memorable time."

Kay nearly burst out laughing. What was he talking about, memorable time? It had been a disaster! First, he had decided to be stupid and sneak down into the basement when she was in heat! It had taken Brin forever to separate them before anything happened. Then, he shoved Ben and Zack into the basement! Zack had managed to get himself out, but once again Brin had had to come down and separate Kay from yet another X5 male. Poor Ben had apologized for days after that. Of course, Alec wasn't done yet. He tried horseback riding, which was one of the funniest things Kay had ever seen until he finally just gave up and kicked the poor horse in the sides as hard as he could. Even he hadn't been able to hold on for that ride. He had to pay for a whole new set of tack because the horse had pretty much wrecked its saddle and bridle while it was running around the farm. Still, Alec hadn't finished on his rampage. He talked Ben and Zack into drinking with him. There had been way too many close calls with Zack nearly giving away that he remembered everything. Alec had set out to get them completely drunk, along with himself, which required a lot of beer. Kay suspected Alec had bought out the whole supply of beer in town to get himself and the other two X5s as drunk as they were. She and Brin had quite a time carrying them back to their beds. Just for laughs, Kay had dragged Zack and Alec into the same bed. The explosion that came from that house the next morning was hysterical.

"Oh yeah, we just _have_ to do that again!" She reached over and gave him a quick hug. "That's about the best I can do right now. I'm too tired to walk you to your truck or anything like that. Don't take it personally."

Alec grinned down at her. "Hey, a hug was more than I was expecting. I was wondering if you could do a favor for me if you've got the time. The guy I bought the beer from the other day ripped me off, but I can't go into details. The only thing I gotta say is he's kinda vain about this really cool motorcycle of his. I was wondering if you could steal it. It's not for me, I just want to piss him off. That's just if you have the time. I guess I'll let you get back to sleep. I'm sure I can do something to bug Max as soon as I get home." Kay chuckled and waved him away. As soon as she heard his truck pull away, she let her head flop back down on its pillow. It was too bad Alec had interrupted. She had been having the strangest dream, but wasn't quite sure anymore what it had been about. She had never been that interested in dreams before, seeing as how she knew they weren't real and she wasn't the type to focus on fictional things. Still, she had the strangest feeling that it was a bad thing Alec had interrupted her. As she lay there trying to remember the dream, she wasn't even aware that she had fallen asleep.

Kay found herself sitting Indian-style on the ground outside Manticore. Her first reaction was to run, but she was strangely planted to the ground. When she looked around, she noticed that this wasn't the Seattle facility, but the Wyoming one. _Could this really be a dream?_ Kay had never dreamed like this before. Usually it was just silly stuff that she easily dismissed the next morning, but this was a memory. It was clear and vivid, almost as if she was actually there. She could hear the familiar sounds of marching feet as they made their way towards the front doors. It didn't surprise her at all when she saw Lydecker leading the young X5s out of the cold, gray building. She saw Zack just behind Lydecker, with Max and Jondy close behind. She also saw herself at the very end, looking as though she'd rather be somewhere else. As people Kay didn't recognize handed out weapons to the children, Kay paled. This was a memory she had forced herself to forget long ago. It was the first time she'd ever been shot. As the targets were set up across the field and the kids prepared themselves to shoot, Kay was already dreading watching what was about to happen. When Lydecker gave the signal, the guns went off. Every target had a hole in the dead center except for two, Kay's and Ben's. The answer became evident as to why when everyone stepped back. Kay was on the ground, seizing horribly with a bullet wound in her side while Ben still had his gun pointed at her. Kay turned her head away, she couldn't watch this. She heard Lydecker order Zack to go get one of the doctors. What upset her more was what she didn't hear; Lydecker wasn't scolding Ben or even asking why he had done it. Everyone knew why, and everyone except for Kay wasn't bothered by it. She could hear her younger self making low noises in her throat as her seizures continued.

Kay finally turned her head back to see again what was going on when something caught her eye. On the other side of the field was a little boy. He was only about seven years old and she didn't recognize him. If she didn't remember him, how could he be in her memory? He was watching the whole scene in front of him with a look of horrified fascination on his face. He didn't seem to like what he was seeing, but he also didn't seem to be able to pull his eyes away. She was keeping her eyes on him, trying to figure out who he was, when he raised his head and looked straight at her. She jumped, then returned his gaze. How could he see her? She studied him more closely. He had short, light brown hair with some blond along the edges from the sun. His eyes were dark blue, almost gray, and he had a cute little turned-up nose with a couple of freckles scattered across it. Something strange about him was that he seemed to have no hard muscle in his body. If he was from Manticore, despite his young age he would still be sort of tough looking. Still, even if he wasn't from Manticore, the fact that he was looking straight at her was disturbing. Their eyes remained connected for a long time, and Kay was sure that he was really seeing her and not something behind her. He even looked surprised to see her there. She finally tried to call out to him.

"Who are you?" No sound came out of her mouth. She tried again, but to no avail. The boy was still watching her steadily, not noticing her attempts to speak. She tried several times, each time growing louder and louder inside her own head but the message didn't seem to be reaching the boy. Finally, she heard her name being called.

"Kay!"

Those words weren't coming from his mouth. She looked around, but there was no one there who could see her.

"Kay!"

Kay's eyes snapped open. She realized her body was damp with sweat and Wendy was standing over her, looking concerned. In the doorway behind her, Kay could see Ben, Zack, Brin, and Lydecker watching her with confused expressions on their faces. She looked up at Wendy.

"What's wrong? Why did you wake me up?"

"You were talking in your sleep. You kept saying 'who are you?' and tossing around so I thought I should wake you up."

Kay frowned and tried not to show how confused she was. She had never so much as flinched in her sleep, cameras at Manticore had revealed that. Now she was talking and rolling around?

"It's nothing, I just had a bad dream. Don't worry about it."

Wendy nodded, but still didn't look convinced. Kay finally made a shooing motion with her hand and Wendy left the room, shutting the door behind her. Kay sat up to get out of bed and nearly crashed to the ground. She realized to her shock that her legs were completely tangled up in the sheets. She must have been really moving. She spent her next couple minutes working her way out of the bed to freedom. She couldn't believe how tired she felt. It was as though she hadn't slept at all, but lay there and daydreamed everything. She felt a distinctly unsettled feeling in her stomach as the boy's face came rushing back to her. He had seemed confused by her presence, as though he wasn't expecting to see her. She didn't see how it was possible that she had just dreamed him up. He was too real in her mind, and she had certainly never dreamed of anyone with details like freckles before. The touches of blond in the hair that framed his face and the cute little turned-up nose were details that she had never placed on a person in her dreams either. Those details drove her wild. If she could see those things so clearly, then shouldn't she know him? She couldn't see herself making someone like that up in a dream, but her mind was sharp enough for her to remember someone with those kinds of details. She had to have known him at one time, and pretty well considering the clear picture of him in her mind.

Kay's attention turned to the door. She could see shadows just under it, which probably meant that Wendy was worried about her and was waiting for her to come out. She couldn't help the blush that came into her cheeks when she thought of the expressions on everyone's face as they watched Wendy wake her up. They most likely thought she was nuts, and she was starting to agree with them. That boy shouldn't bother her so much, but for some reason it did. She tried to shake it from her mind as she grabbed her robe and pulled it on. Despite the fact that she was wearing the tank top and shorts that she always wore to bed, she felt too exposed. She almost laughed at that. She had flashed two guards she didn't even know but she felt embarrassed about people who knew her seeing her in her bed clothes? That really was screwed up.

Sure enough, Wendy was just outside the door when Kay came out. If the door had been the type to swing out instead of in, Wendy would be sporting a new bump on her head. Kay smiled and gave a little wave, trying to prove to Wendy that she was just fine. Ben, Zack, Brin, and Lydecker were sitting at the kitchen table. She didn't really bother with hellos there. Any speech among that group and there would be a fight. It was hard to believe they hadn't killed each other already. She noticed they were sitting in a semi-circle around the table with Ben and Lydecker at either end with Zack and Brin between them. Even that wasn't all too great. Brin seemed to always jump at the chance to aggravate her ever-watchful big brother. From what Zack had told Kay in the past, Brin never used to be like that. She had actually been a very sweet person who was usually the one he went to when he had a problem. Apparently being back at Manticore had changed her completely.

When Kay wandered into the kitchen to make herself an egg, Wendy followed and sat on the counter as if she were watching five-year-old make a meal for the first time. It irked Kay slightly, but she had to remember that Wendy was a mother through and through and was just worried about her. She decided to calm any fears before they were voiced.

"I'm fine, Mom."

Wendy smiled and ran a hand back through her hair. "That's what you say, but it's not necessarily what you mean."

"How would you know?"

"I have, well actually had, a husband and son for many years. Living with two men teaches you that people tend to not admit it when something's wrong, especially when they have a lot of pride." She looked sad at the memory of her family.

Kay pouted playfully, trying to lighten the mood. Anything to get that look off of her friend's face. "Are you saying I'm a proud person?"

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Yeah, I know. You can stop worrying though. I'm as fine as can be." She slid her egg onto her plate and headed back to the dining room, Wendy close behind her. She had the feeling she was going to have a human shadow for a while. As she approached the dining room, she heard the arguing. _Well, so much for a nice, peaceful breakfast._ She knew before she even entered the room that it was Zack and Brin. Once again, they were arguing about where Brin's loyalties should lie. She heard Zack saying that Lydecker had practically tortured them as kids and was one of the main reasons they hadn't wanted to get captured again. Kay struggled to hold down the laughter that threatened when she saw Lydecker's face. His look seemed to say 'Hello? I'm sitting right here!'. Kay walked around the table, grabbed Brin's chair, pulled it away from Zack's, inserted an empty chair, and promptly sat down in it. There was dead silence at the table as Kay proceeded to eat as though she hadn't noticed what she'd done. Wendy refilled everyone else's cups of coffee, acting as though she hadn't noticed what was going on either. Kay knew this was usually the best way to handle the fights around here. You just split them up silently and acted as though it hadn't happened.

Wendy mentioned her and Brin's plans to go stay at the cabin for a few days, but Kay hardly noticed. To take her mind off her dream, she was thinking about what Alec wanted her to do. Alec probably just wanted her to dump it and that really would be the wise choice because this guy lived so close. Still, she could use a ride of her own and a motorcycle would be great. She had always been jealous of Max's, now was her chance to have one of her own. She knew who Alec was talking about and had seen him around town. Alec was right, he really was vain about that bike. The thing that would work in her favor was that he was no Albert Einstein. He left that bike out in the middle of the night all the time. It wouldn't be that difficult to take. She'd probably have to get it painted so the guy didn't notice it was his.

She spent most of the day out in the barns throwing her focus into the horses. One of the mares had just had a colt and he was the cutest thing around. Everyone walked to that stall at least once a day to see him, even if they wouldn't admit it. Just after supper, Kay sat down on a stool in the stall and let the baby come over to her. With all the attention he was getting, he certainly wasn't shy. He was a beautiful little bay, but he would most likely gray out like his mother. At the moment, the mother was dozing in the far corner of the stall. Now that the baby could more or less handle himself in their close quarters, she was taking advantage of it. The colt flopped down on the ground next to Kay, and she slid off her stool to sit next to him. While she was running a hand continuously down his neck, she leaned against the side of the stall and dozed off.

She was back in Manticore, this time in Seattle. It could only be about a year ago because Kay's hair was red. She had been forced to dye it that color for her one of her missions, but didn't have it changed back for about a week afterwards. At the moment, she really couldn't remember why she didn't change it back immediately. The real Kay was standing in the corner of the room, trying to remember what this memory would be about. The room had almost no light in it. There were no windows and no overhead lights. In the dark, Kay could just barely make out the speakers set into the walls. Her memory self was strapped down onto a stretcher in the middle of the room. It was freezing cold, even for an X5. Kay could see herself shaking where she lay. It was then that the questions from the speakers started.

"Do you believe in the Blue Lady?"

"No."

"Have you ever killed without reason?"

"No."

"Have you ever removed the teeth of a religious person?"

"No."

"Do you go to the High Place?"

"...No."

The last answer was slightly hesitant. Kay knew better. Since she knew how to get out of her cell, she went to the High Place all the time. Of course, it wasn't the same High Place as when she was a kid, and she had never been there when she was a kid, but she found it comforting now that none of the people she feared were there to make her stay down. Now Kay remembered this. When Ben had been brought back dead, his clones and the other X5s who had grown up with him were brought to psy-ops for evaluation. That actually hadn't been many people. It was only Alec, Ben's X7 clone, and a handful of other X5s. Most of the original X5s were gone, either escaped or dead. Manticore had been afraid that those with Ben's blood or those he had grown up with might have the same tendencies for murder that he did.

Kay watched herself tense in expectation of the doctors' reactions. There was no way they wouldn't have noticed her hesitation, and they would most surely act on it. She was right. As the barrage of questions hit her again, Kay looked around the room. She didn't want to relive this, even if it was as an onlooker rather than as herself on the stretcher. As she was looking, she saw something in the far corner of the room. At first she couldn't really bring it into focus, but then it seemed to materialize in front of her. She should have known. It was the boy again. Once again, it took him a while to notice her. His eyes were focused on the scene in front of him. When he finally saw her, he once again looked surprised to see her. His blue eyes remained locked with hers for several minutes. Kay tried asking him who he was again, but like before it wasn't coming out. It didn't even register on his face that he saw her lips move. She kept repeating and repeating....

Kay sat up with a start at the sudden pressure on her lap. She opened her eyes to see the colt's head laying across her legs. He must have moved in his sleep. She took a deep breath and tried to get her thoughts together. She had seen the boy again and he had seen her. It couldn't just be a coincidence. She shook her head and turned her attention to the mare, who was now moving around.

"Hey Martha." She had jokingly been given that name after Martha Stewart just because of the careful and neat way she ate her hay. While other horses tended to play with theirs and get it all over, she never dropped a piece of it. You could feed her in the alley of the barn and when you came back it would look as though there had never been any hay there at all.

The mare came over to where Kay and the baby were sitting. She first moved her nose down to sniff the sleeping colt, then raised her head to let Kay pet her. Kay glanced outside the stall to see if anyone had seen her napping and realized it was getting dark outside already. Had she really been asleep that long? The memory had been short, so she must have slept a while before having it. She'd have to head out soon to steal that motorcycle. She gently moved the baby's head off her lap and scooted away from him to let him sleep. When she came out of the barn, she saw Mary climbing into the farm truck.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Mary smiled when she looked up and spotted Kay. "I'm just heading into town. I've got some things to pick up."

"Could you give me a ride?"

"You'll be waiting around for a while once we're in."

"No, you just have to give me a ride in. I might be gone a few days."

Mary seemed a bit confused but nodded her head anyway and motioned for Kay to get in. The ride wasn't too long, but Kay was rather excited. Even though she'd never really thought of getting one before, now she realized she really wanted that motorcycle. It would be a cool thing to have. She had decided against repainting it because it would probably look stupid, black was a better color. Anyways, she rarely ever went into town and if she did, she'd make sure to take someone else's truck instead. It would be a nice change to have it around though. She could use it to go visit Max. The reason she didn't go to Seattle just to visit was because she hated being jolted around in one of the many trucks on the farm. Didn't anyone around here even have a car?

Kay thanked Mary for the ride after she got out, then headed to the bar where the motorcycle owner always was. Kay tried to think of his name. She was pretty sure it was Ian, but she wasn't positive. It didn't take too long before she spotted the bike in the parking lot of one of the old bars. She could tell Ian was proud of it because while the other vehicles were covered in dirt from driving on gravel roads, it was completely spotless. Kay couldn't stop a grin from crossing her face at the sight of it. That idiot had left the key in it. She swung her leg over it and started it up. No one was around so she was free to take it now. She spun it around and got out of the parking lot. Now was as good a time as any to visit Max.

Kay was happy through pretty much the entire ride. Thoughts of a little boy who could see her in her dreams were far from her mind. She had a new motorcycle and was going to get away for a few days. That was all that really mattered to her at the moment. She needed a vacation.

She had just entered Seattle. She started paying more attention to her surroundings. She didn't really need to, it was just something Manticore had trained her to do so she'd have a good escape path or hiding place ready if she needed it. She glanced at people in the parking lots as she went by simply out of habit. Manticore also trained her to be extra careful when starting a new mission that someone wasn't there from their last mission that could ruin the whole thing. She was just about to turn when she thought she saw someone familiar in the parking lot of the building closest to her. Even from a distance she could tell it was Otto. He was walking around the back of the building. Most of the people inside probably didn't even know what it was being used for. She looked up that the sign in front of it. MARRIAGE COUNSELING. She frowned. That was just great. If she was curious as to what Otto was doing in there, she'd have to be married. _I'd need to find a real idiot to pretend to be my husband!_

"Hey, Kay!"

Kay turned her head and grinned. She'd found her idiot. "How's it going, Sketchy?"

"Fine. What brings you back into town?"

"I have a little business to tend to. Could you do me a teensy little favor?"

Sketchy grinned. "Anything for you, you know that. Whatcha need?"

"I need a husband."

"What? Wouldn't you want to go on a date first?"

Kay laughed and shook her head. "That's not what I meant. I need you to pretend to be my husband so I can get something."

"Am I gonna get any of the perks?"

"Nope, we're going to be cutting straight to the fighting. We have to be a couple with serious problems. Will you help me?"

Sketchy looked like he was thinking about it. _Don't take too long, I haven't got all day!_ Finally, he nodded. "Where do you need to go for this?"

She pointed across the street to the building Otto had gone into. "Right over there."

He looked at the building and nodded. "Okay, let's go."

Kay parked her bike in the parking lot and slipped the key into her pocket. She just hoped Sketchy didn't slip up and ruin things for her. She didn't need Otto catching her because most likely wherever he was, White was sure to be. Or maybe it was the other way around. She wanted to just find out what was going on and get out of here. She almost laughed at herself. She was turning into Max.

She grabbed Sketchy's arm and made him stop just before they reached the door. She rubbed her eyes as hard as she could, which wound up being pretty painful. When she removed her hands, her eyes were watering like crazy. She smiled at Sketchy, then put on the saddest face she could. He laughed at her, then tried to make himself look disgusted with her. He actually did it better than she would have thought.

When they went in, it looked like they had just had a fight. The girl at the counter looked shocked when she saw them walk up.

"We need to talk to someone _right now_!" sobbed Kay. "We can't go on like this!"

The girl looked taken aback by the way she had been approached, but nodded and picked up her phone. When she hung up, she nodded to them.

"Dr. Starner can see you now. He's on the second floor, take a left turn once you're up, and he's the third door on your right."

Kay turned and walked towards the elevators, dragging Sketchy along by the arm, still sobbing. She wiped her cheeks dry before they made it to Dr. Starner's office, knowing her eyes were still red and puffy. Dr. Starner ended up being a short man in his middle to late forties with a receding hairline and huge wire-rimmed glasses. He shook their hands when they came in, then gestured towards the two chairs in front of his desk. Sketchy and Kay took their seats, then launched into a rampage.

"He never listens to me!"

"She's always sending me places!"

"He's always out drinking with his friends!"

"She never stops nagging me!"

"All I want is a little quality time with him!"

"All I want is some time away from her!"

"He would rather get himself dead drunk than sleep with me!"

"That's not true!"

Kay tried to stop herself from laughing at that. Sketchy would give up drinking any day if he could sleep with her, or any girl for that matter. Poor Dr. Starner didn't seem to know what to say.

"Could we try talking one at a time please?"

Both Sketchy and Kay nodded. Dr. Starner pointed to Kay. "You go first. Tell me what you're unsatisfied with in your marriage."

"What am I unsatisfied with? Everything! He drinks, he's always dragging over his friends for parties at our place, then goes to a bar with them and leaves me to clean up the mess. He pays no attention to our kids. He even stopped wearing his wedding ring and I think he's cheating on me!"

Sketchy jumped to his feet. It was evident in his eyes that he was enjoying this. "I stopped wearing mine because she threw hers away! I don't even think those kids are mine!"

Kay jumped to her feet as well. They may as well be convincing. "Of course they're yours. Who else could be their father?"

"Well, I don't know, but one of them is definitely not mine because he's black!"

"He is not! His skin is just dark, that's all. Is there a problem with that?"

"Yeah! His hair naturally grows into an afro!"

"His hair is curly!"

"Neither of ours is!"

"So?"

The doctor finally got to his feet along with them. "Stop it! You're never going to get anywhere if you fight like this and refuse to hear each other out! I think I'm going to need some help. I'll be back in a moment if you'll excuse me." He went out the door and took off down the hall.

Kay and Sketchy grinned at each other. Kay was surprised, Sketchy didn't seem to be the type to be a good actor, but he was. "How'd you learn to act like that?"

"I didn't learn, I just kept pretending you were Normal."

Kay couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing. No wonder at the beginning Sketchy kept saying she kept sending him places and nagging him. Finally, she brought her mind back to what she had originally come here to do. "Okay Sketchy, I have something to do, so if the good doctor gets back here before I do, I want you to keep him busy. Okay?"

He nodded and grinned again. He was having fun with this. Kay poked her head out the door, made sure Dr. Starner wasn't coming back yet, then slid out the door and down the hall. She wasn't exactly sure where she was going, but she'd head to the back door first. She clearly remembered Otto wearing a lot of cologne, she'd probably be able to follow that to wherever he was. Hopefully someone hadn't ordered him to quit wearing it. Thankfully, they hadn't. The smell invaded her nostrils the second she neared the back door. There were stairs heading down right in front of the door. That didn't surprise her. If they were using this building secretly, the basement was the best place to be.

Kay came way too close to being caught by one of the scientists down there because she nearly ran into him when he was turning the corner. Luckily, she pulled herself out of the way before they collided and he had his eyes glued to his clipboard. When she looked into the room he had just come out of, she nearly fainted. In the middle of the room, surrounded by scientists and being watched by White and Otto, were two transgenics. They both looked normal, but Kay knew they had to be transgenics because she recognized them both. There was a young woman with long dark blond hair and large blue eyes. It was the eyes that gave away who she was. Jondy! Then there was the other one. Kay had to rub her eyes, shake her head, and finally just pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Nope, he was still there. His dark blue eyes seemed blank as they stared out at the people surrounding him. His light brown hair still had that little bit of blond around his face as though it had been bleached by the sun. Even his freckles were exactly as she remembered. There was no doubt it was the little boy from her dreams.

Kay had to whip back around the corner to keep another one of the scientists from seeing her. She would have to come up with a distraction. There was no way she could rescue them with all those people in there, not to mention White and Otto who would probably be armed. She slid back upstairs and looked for anything that could help her. After a short search, she reached out and opened a door that said 'FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY. ALARM WILL SOUND IF OPENED.' When she heard the alarm go off, she headed back downstairs. Sure enough, everyone was evacuating. White didn't look too happy about leaving Jondy and the little boy without supervision, but he left with everyone else. Kay walked out to them. Jondy didn't recognize her when she looked at her, but Kay signaled for her to be quiet so she could get them out safely. Jondy nodded and didn't make a peep, but the little boy was looking at Kay in shock. He obviously hadn't expected to see her any more than she had expected to see him. After only a short struggle with the handcuffs that kept the pair together, Kay managed to break them. Jondy headed straight for the door, keeping an eye out for a sign of someone coming back. Kay reached down and picked up the little boy, who held on to her as though she was his lifeline.

Jondy headed straight out the front door, making sure no one could see her face. Kay looked for Sketchy in the crowd. It took a while but she finally saw him. She crept between people, making sure nobody could see her or the little boy's head above the crowd. It seemed to take forever to reach Sketchy.

"Get out of here, okay? I think I caused a little bit of trouble and I don't want you to get caught in the middle of it."

Sketchy nodded, although he didn't know what she possibly could have done to get herself into trouble. Kay went the opposite way through the crowd from Sketchy. If she got herself caught, she didn't want Sketchy to be associated with her. Suddenly, the little boy panicked and started kicking her sides. Kay had a feeling she knew what was about to happen when the taser hit her in the back. She quickly let go of the kid and whirled around, sending her foot into the side of the enemy's face. She didn't know who it was, or even care. If she could make the pain stop, she would have kicked the pope in the face. The taser was dropped to the ground and Kay picked it up as fast as she could. Her body was still recovering from the shock, but she'd be alright. She looked down at who had been tasering her. She clucked her tongue sympathetically. That would be quite the bruise on poor Otto's face.

Kay nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a scream behind her. She turned and took off in the direction of the scream. She had no doubt that it was the little boy. She just hoped he hadn't run into White. Of course, the moment she thought that, it happened. She realized she had come to a stop two inches away from running into his back. She took a step away from him and saw with no surprise that he was holding onto the arm of the little boy.

"Shut up! No one is coming to get you." He took off his tie and started to wrap it around the boy's wrists. At the first touch of White's tie, the kid screamed at the top of his lungs. It wasn't an attempt to escape, it was an actual scream of terror. White jumped and froze momentarily. Kay was shocked but clasped her fists together and brought them down as hard as she could in the middle of White's back. He hit the ground hard and she heard the air rush out of him. She didn't give him any time to react, she just grabbed the boy and took off running. The kid dropped the tie just as she started to run, leaving it at White's side. The poor boy was still shaking like nuts. Kay wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but it didn't seem to be a seizure. He had just been scared that badly.

About fifteen minutes later, Kay was pulling up outside Foggle Towers. If anyone could help her, Logan could. Anyways, Max would most likely be there too. Despite her horrible way of naming them, she did have a special way with kids. The boy was still shaking as she actually knocked on the door of Logan's apartment. When he answered the door, it was obvious he didn't expect the sight before him. Still, he stepped back to let her into the apartment without asking any questions, which she was grateful for. She set the kid down on the couch where he curled himself up into a ball and continued shaking as he was. Kay stepped back, still worried, then Logan motioned for her to follow him into the kitchen. As soon as they were out of earshot, he turned to her with a worried face.

"What's going on and what's wrong with that kid?"

"I found him with White. I'm not really sure what's wrong with him. I found White trying to bind his wrists with a tie, and the kid freaked out when the tie touched him. I mean, he really freaked. I've never heard a scream like that."

Logan studied her face carefully. "You're not telling me everything."

"What makes you say that?"

"I don't know. It's just something in your eyes. There's something troubling you about the kid. What is it?"

"Do you promise you won't think I'm nuts?"

"Of course. Why would I think that?"

"Okay, this might sound a little weird, but I've seen the kid before. I don't mean face to face like tonight, but I've dreamed about him. Really weird dreams."

"Like?"

"Well, they start out as bad memories of Manticore. Instead of me being in my body and remembering like usual, I'm sort of a bystander. I see everything from the sidelines. I'm frozen in place, just watching everything happen, and that's when he comes in. He appears across from me and he doesn't see me at first. He's just watching my memory with some sick sort of fascination. It's only after a little bit that he looks up and sees me. I mean he really sees _me_, not me in my memory. I know this sounds weird and I would have dismissed it as coincidence, but when he first saw me tonight he recognized me. I could see it in his eyes. Now, you can't tell me that's just a coincidence."

Logan was quiet for a bit and Kay was sure he was about to suggest a psychiatrist for her to see, when he finally spoke up.

"You're right, that does sound farfetched, but Manticore made several weird kinds of transgenics and not all of them were made just for power. There were transgenics with all sorts of strange mental abilities. It wouldn't surprise me if you just happened to stumble over one."

"So you don't think I'm insane?"

Logan chuckled. "Of course I do, just not in this case."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "How am I insane?"

"Well, I couldn't really tell you, but I've never really seen you on the best occasions. The first time you gave me such a strong cold shoulder that I had to leave my apartment to let you and Max talk, then you asked me about my relationship with Max and figured out I was Eyes Only. Then you show up on Halloween bleeding in the side and asking if I knew of a place you could hide out. Then you stayed at my apartment and nearly ate me out of house and home. Oh, and we can't forget when you showed up in heat. I know you didn't pull anything, but you wanted to worse than any woman I've ever seen. I didn't even know what was up with you until Max told me. So I can definitely say you're insane."

Kay rolled her eyes at him and went back into the living room. The boy had stopped shaking now and was looking at her with his large blue eyes. She felt that unsettled feeling in her stomach again and tried not to show it. She sat down next to him on the couch.

"I'm Kay, what's your name?"

"Kody."

"I'm an X5. Are you part of the X series?"

He shook his head solemnly. Kay got the strangest feeling that he would rather be part of the X series than what he was. "I'm from psy-ops."

So Logan had been right. "What's your specialty?"

"I can read stories."

"What?"

"That's what they called it. They said everything has a story, both living things and objects. I can read those stories. The things that have happened to it and what will happen."

"What about dreams?"

"Usually I have to touch something to see its story, but sometimes when I sleep I go wandering. That's what they called it when I read the story of something or someone from far away. Most of the time it's someone or something that will cross with me. I have no control over it when I'm asleep. I've never met anyone like you before though."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've read lots of people's stories before but none of them has ever seen me reading it. Usually I'll just stand there in their memory and watch it happen, but you were the first one who ever saw me. You did see me, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I saw you. How did that happen?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's because you're from Manticore. You know weird things can happen because you know what they made. It's usually pretty easy to read a stranger's story because they don't believe you can do it, so they don't see you doing it. You always knew that others like me are around, even if you never saw any of us. They probably taught you how to protect yourself from us, just to be careful."

Kay couldn't remember them teaching her anything like that, but she had deliberately let herself forget many things about Manticore, so that didn't surprise her. Suddenly, something else occurred to her.

"Kody, did you read the story of that tie earlier tonight?"

Kody's eyes grew wide with fear. Whatever he had seen must have been pretty bad. He nodded very slowly, as if trying to stall for more time in any way possible.

"What was its story? Was it something in the future that you saw, or something from the past? Why did it scare you so bad?" she asked curiously. She knew White's story had to be bad, but she didn't see what would be so wrong with a tie.

Kody took a deep breath before starting. "It was a little bit of the past and future. What already happened was an order. It wasn't for the tie of course, but it had something to do with what is going to happen. There was an old woman, I don't know what she was saying but it made the bad man sad. He didn't want to listen to her. Even though I don't know what she was ordering him to do, he's going to do it. He doesn't know it yet, but he's going to do it."

Kay was thoroughly confused now. This was just a little over her head. "Okay, that was the past. What did you see was going to happen with the tie?"

"It's going to kill someone. I don't know who, but it's going to kill someone and he's not going to want to do it but he'll do it anyways and it's going to be bad and no one's going to know it happened--" He continued babbling like this, but it was just repeating what he'd already said. Kay shot a worried glance at Logan, who was watching the boy with concern in his eyes. He stood up and walked into the kitchen. Kay knew he meant for her to follow him. She slowly moved away from Kody, who was still babbling and didn't even notice that she'd moved, and went after Logan. He was standing at the far side of the kitchen, and he was actually drinking a beer. Kay had never seen him drink before and had always pictured him drinking a martini or a cocktail for alcohol rather than beer. His eyes looked far away, and she wasn't sure she liked seeing him like this.

"What wrong, Logan?"

He looked up at her for the first time. "What if that kid's seeing White kill Max?"

Kay was shocked. That thought had never occurred to her before. "I don't think that's it."

"Why not? He would definitely do it."

"See, that's the problem. Kody said White would be sad about what he was going to do, and he would be more than happy to kill Max. It has to be someone else."

Logan looked a little relieved. "I guess that makes sense. I guess the first thing that came into my mind was a picture of White strangling Max. He's strong enough."

"Well, forget about that, because that's not going to happen. Max would give him a good ass-kicking beforehand."

Logan smiled and downed the rest of his beer. Thankfully, he didn't get another one. "What are you going to do with the kid in the meantime?"

"I was thinking I might take him down to Joshua's for a night or two. Joshua would love him and it might take his mind off what he saw."

Logan nodded. "That's a good idea even though I figured you'd just stay here for the night."

Kay pointed towards the window. "The night is almost over."

"Oh, I guess it is."

Kay went back into the living room and scooped Kody into her arms. He stopped babbling at least. She waved goodbye to Logan and carried Kody down to the motorcycle. She made sure he had a good grip on her before taking off. She didn't want to lose him accidentally. She was about halfway to Joshua's when she spotted Jondy at the edge of the road. She pulled the bike over.

"Hey, where are you headed?"

Jondy looked at her in surprise, then recognized her from earlier. "Wherever I can find a safe spot to stay I guess."

"Do you even know who I am?"

Jondy studied her face, but eventually shook her head. "No, you don't look familiar at all."

Kay wasn't too upset by that. It might be better if she wasn't known. She was about to say something when she felt a sharp pain in her side. She looked down and was stunned to see blood pouring from her left side. She put her hand over her mouth when she saw Kody. Her left side was where his head had been, but it wasn't there anymore. In fact, it wasn't there at all. Kay couldn't stop the uncontrollable rage that flowed through her. She turned her head to see who had fired the shot. There was a black car behind her and she easily spotted White and Otto sitting in the front seats, but the man who had the gun was standing right next to the car. He was about to get back in when Kay snapped. She had been responsible for someone and he had been killed. She wasn't about to let that go unpunished.

The poor man probably didn't even know what happened. Kay was off the bike in a flash, letting Kody's body drop to the ground. Despite the wound in her side, she moved faster than usual and was at the man's side in an instant. He didn't even have time to turn and see her before she easily snapped his neck with one hand. He slumped to the ground and she grabbed his gun before it fell. Before she even realized what she was doing, she was firing through the windows of the car, shattering all of them and causing White and Otto to duck down. Kay knew she had hit Otto with a couple of shots, but that wasn't really what she was going for. She just wanted to cause as much damage as possible. She took a step back and shot out the tires, then went around to the front of the car, opened the hood, and pretty much blew the engine to pieces. She didn't stop firing until the gun ran out of ammo, and by then the fire inside her was already dying down. The last thing she did was throw the gun as hard as she could into the windshield, making glass fly everywhere in the car. With that, she turned and climbed onto her bike. Jondy had already disappeared, which was probably for the best. Kay changed her mind about going to visit Joshua and headed straight out of Seattle. She just wanted to get home as fast as was humanly possible.

When Kay finally pulled up in front of her house, she didn't go inside. Instead, she turned and headed for the tallest barn. She had to be by herself for a little while. When she made it to the top of the barn, she was upset to see that Ben was sitting there. She was about to climb back down when he turned around and saw her. He started to smile, then stopped when he saw her face.

"Kay, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Kay reached a hand up and touched her face. Sure enough, her fingers came back wet. She hadn't even noticed the tears. She thought about just going back down and sleeping in her own bed, then thought better of it. Maybe she really shouldn't be alone right now. She climbed up by Ben and sat next to him. His eyes showed nothing but concern for her, which at the moment was comforting. Before she could stop herself, she was pouring out the entire story to him, from the dreams to killing Kody's murderer. When she finished, she was worried he would say something about her overreacting or that she must have imagined the dreams, but he didn't. Instead, he reached over and put his arms around her. He didn't say a word, he just let her cry against him. Somehow, that was better than all the comforting words in the world.

After about a half hour of sitting like that, Ben broke the silence. "Do you want me to walk you back down to your house?"

Kay nodded meekly. She just wanted to be back in her house. Ben walked next to her holding her arm, as though afraid she might fall. She wouldn't be surprised if she did. Everything seemed to be hitting her right now. It wasn't just about Kody. He was what had started it, but he was no longer the main reason. He had been right inside her head and she felt as though he was trespassing, he had seen things that she had never let anyone else see. He was the only person to ever see what happened to her because of the others, the only person to understand what she had gone through. That was her problem. She had built up walls so nobody else would know how she felt simply out of the fear that no one would understand. It was those walls that made her lonely.

Ben led her carefully into her house, and she felt even sadder when she looked around. Wendy would have been someone to understand, but now Kay remembered that Brin and Wendy had gone to the cabin. Kay stood up straight and wiped the tears from her eyes. She was positive now that she was sick and tired of being alone. She reached out and grabbed Ben's arm as he went to go back outside.

"Don't go. I want you to be here with me."

He turned to her, still concerned. "Don't you want to go to bed?"

"As a matter of fact I do, but I'm not tired. Could you please stay?"

He studied her face carefully. "You're not in heat, are you?"

"Nope, I have a few months before that happens again. I just want you to stay. Please?"

Ben didn't seem to know what to say, but she didn't give him the chance to say anything. She reached up and pulled his face down to hers and kissed him. She could feel his surprise, but he finally wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. After another moment, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.

* * *

Kay watched Ben's face as he slept. She had been watching him for a while now. He looked so peaceful when he slept. It was hard to believe that he had been a serial killer at one time. It was actually funny to think that he had wanted to kill her. He didn't anymore, that was for sure. She rolled onto her back and closed her eyes. She wasn't planning to fall asleep, but she hadn't realized how tired she was. 

Kay was standing in the barracks at the old Manticore. She watched the kids sleeping. This was an old memory; her sleeping form in front of her couldn't be any more than four years old. She realized she couldn't really remember much about this time. She had forgotten pretty much everything before the day the others had seen her coming out that Nomlies' cell. This was still a couple of years before that. She watched as her younger self's body started to shake. She heard footsteps approaching and felt the fear she usually did when remembering her childhood, but her fears turned out to be pointless. Even though she was nervous as she watched Ben climb into the bed with her, she had to force herself to remember this was before he had hated her. He lay down next to her and held her as though he was trying to hold in the seizures. Sure enough, the seizures slowed to a stop within his arms. Kay's younger self woke up and rolled over to smile at him.

"Tell me a story, Ben."

As he started to tell the story of the Good Place, Kay let her eyes wander around the room. Her mouth fell open when she saw Kody standing on the other side of the room. He saw her right away this time, then smiled and waved to her. She smiled and waved back, and in the next instant he disappeared.

"Goodbye Kody," she whispered softly to herself, then sat down on the cold floor and listened to the rest of Ben's story.


	15. How Not To Run A Search Party

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Outside

By Be Boring

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Chapter 15: How Not To Run A Search Party

Kay slammed her fist into the wall yet again. She'd been doing that a lot over the last couple of weeks. Ever since that night with Ben, everything had gone wrong. Ben got a whole bunch of morning after regrets, Zack found out and blew up, and Wendy suddenly seemed more determined than ever to find her son. Since Ben had suddenly started shutting her out and Zack was too furious to talk to her, Kay had tried to focus on Wendy. That was her problem right now. When she had woken up this morning, Wendy had been gone. Kay had searched her room and found all of Wendy's things missing. Couldn't that woman understand that her life was in danger if she went after Ray? For the life of her Kay couldn't imagine what was so special about that kid that made Wendy want to find him so bad. Of course, she didn't have any kids so she really couldn't relate. The worst thing of all right now was that Logan seemed to have unplugged his phone, so she couldn't get a hold of him.

Brin walked out of her room at the sound of Kay's fist hitting the wall. "What's going on?"

Kay looked up and carefully studied her sister's face. Despite looking tired, Brin's eyes were concerned. _Well, I guess Manticore didn't stamp all the emotion out of her after all._ "She left."

That was enough for Brin. She knew the whole situation and understood how dangerous it was. If there was anything Brin had ever understood, it was how it felt to have some of the people closest to you become your enemies. "Do you have any idea where she might have gone?"

"No, she won't go back to the hotel she was at last time. She knows enough to know that would be the first place we'd look. She never shared with me any of the information she was getting on Ray. For all I know she could be halfway across the country by now. Why is she so damned stupid!!" Kay turned and hit the wall again. As useless as it seemed, it really did make her feel a little better. Brin didn't seem to know what to say. She had never seen Kay this angry.

"Have you tried calling Logan?"

"He's not answering. I've heard that he's focusing on some of his more usual Eyes Only projects, or at least that's what Max told me the last time I talked to her. He probably just doesn't want to be bothered."

"Is there anyone else who would know where she is? Would her husband know?"

Kay rolled her eyes in disgust. "Well, isn't that a first-rate idea? I'll just walk up to him and ask!"

Brin flinched slightly at the angry sarcasm in Kay's voice. "Well, what about her sister? Do you think Wendy might have told her?"

Kay shook her head. "She knows Julie is in close contact with Logan. It's for her own good, but she just doesn't get it. I just wish she would have told me. I would have helped her get Ray just so she'd stop putting herself in danger like this."

Brin bit down on her lower lip, thinking hard. She had become close to Wendy ever since she had come to the farm. Wendy was the only person who made her feel like a human being. Zack, Ben, and Lydecker all treated her like a soldier and everyone else who knew what she was treated her like a freak either because they didn't trust transgenics or because they knew about her being turned into the enemy at one time. She figured she could be close to Kay if she wanted to, but she still always had that inner feeling that had been slammed into her as a child about Kay being the enemy. She knew now that wasn't true, but the feeling would never quite leave her. That was one reason Lydecker had always thought of her as a weak soldier, she was gullible.

"Are you going to go looking for her?"

Kay shrugged. "Seems like the only thing left to do."

Brin hesitated, then forced the words out. "Could I help you? It might go faster that way."

"I guess if you really want to. Just don't get your hopes up, without a lead it's doubtful we'll find her." Even though she wouldn't admit it, Kay was grateful for the help. She just didn't want to suggest it because she wasn't sure how much she trusted Brin yet.

"Should we get Zack and Ben to help?"

Kay's eyes widened at the thought. "Hell no! Zack will just take over the whole thing and I'm a little uncomfortable around Ben right now."

Brin nodded sympathetically. She knew the situation and couldn't help being angry at Ben. He had freaked out after one night with Kay, which certainly couldn't make Kay feel very good. If only he didn't feel so damned guilty. She had overheard him telling Mary that he felt as though he had taken advantage of her. She had been going through a tough time and, according to him, must not have been thinking clearly. Brin knew that wasn't true, it was just that Ben wasn't used to being so close to someone like that. Then again, neither were the rest of them but you didn't see them freaking out after sex.

"What about Alec?"

"Well, that's a possibility. Just one thing though. He can't know anything that's gone on here since he left. He'd never let me live it down. At least he can keep quiet on some things. Max hasn't sounded like she knows about Zack or Ben when I've spoken to her on the phone. Of course, she would just show up if she knew. She's not really the type to call first."

Brin smiled slightly. That sure sounded like Max. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

* * *

When the two women sauntered into Jam Pony, male heads nearly spun all the way around to get a good look at them. Everyone remembered Kay, but Brin was a new beauty for them to check out. Sketchy walked over with his dopey grin on his face. 

"Hey ladies, how's it going?" He was grinning at Brin the whole time.

Kay flicked him in the ear. "We're _both_ doing fine, thank you very much. Where's Alec? I need to talk to him."

"Oh, he's fighting again."

"What?"

"Yeah, he's getting back in the ring. That's why Normal is in such a good mood."

Kay glanced over to the counter. Sure enough, Normal had a schoolboy's grin on his face and was humming to himself. She turned back to Sketchy, who looked thoroughly disgusted with the way his boss was acting. "Well, how about Max?"

Brin shot her a questioning look. Max couldn't know about her yet. Sketchy shrugged. "I think she's going to that fight of Alec's with that rich guy pal of hers. I never thought she'd be interested in something like that, but she's going."

Brin pointed to Sketchy's left hand. "What's that?"

Sketchy held it up. It looked like a tabloid. "This? This is where I'm hoping to be working."

Kay cringed at the picture on the front. It had the picture of a strange-looking person with the headline: MUTANTS WALK AMONG US. So they were one of the tabloids that believed the stories about transgenics. She didn't like the idea of Sketchy being one of those reporters. If he ever found out what she was, he might try to expose her. She didn't want to think of him as someone she'd have to hide from.

"Well, I guess if they're not here then we can go. Nice seeing ya, Sketchy."

He looked a little upset that they were leaving so soon. He probably wanted to stare at Brin some more. Kay didn't know what they were going to do now. If everyone was busy then she didn't know how in the world she and Brin were going to find Wendy.

"Let's go to Logan's."

"But I thought that guy just said--"

"I don't care what he said. Logan may not be there, but maybe Wendy is. She might have gone to him for help."

Brin nodded and didn't say anything else, which Kay found as a relief. She wasn't in the mood for a conversation. In fact, she wasn't even in the mood for company. The entire ride over to Logan's she was thinking about how much she'd just like to dump Brin somewhere and keep looking for Wendy on her own. That way she wouldn't be slowed down. She shook her head, trying to get those thoughts out. It was just the stress talking, it was probably better that Brin was with her as backup.

A half hour later, Kay nearly kicked over Logan's computer. Wendy wasn't there and as far as the computer files she had hacked into were concerned, Logan had no leads on where to find Ray. Brin put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down. Kay thought about hitting her, then thought better of it. Now was not the time to lose her temper, she needed to be able to think clearly.

"I don't get it. How did she get information on Ray and Logan couldn't? He's the one with all the damn contacts!" She shoved Logan's chair out of the way and let it topple to the floor. After a moment, she reached over and picked it back up. Logan didn't need to know that someone had been in his home. She walked over to the window and looked down, trying to relax. There was someone in a hood heading towards the building. She let her eyes focus down on him. He was very tall, she could tell that, and he walked with a strange shuffle. When he glanced up towards the window where she was standing, she saw his face. "Dammit Joshua, I don't need you getting caught."

She hurried past Brin to the door. She doubted Joshua could make it through the first level of the building without being spotted. Brin tried to keep up with her as she rushed down the stairs, which they could make it down faster on than the elevator. Kay just hoped they were fast enough to stop Joshua from entering Foggle Towers. Luckily, they made it to the front door at the same time he did. He looked down at Kay in shock.

"What are you doing here?" they both said in unison. Brin smiled a little bit. It was cute to see a huge dog-boy looking afraid of a tiny woman like Kay. Joshua shifted his weight back and forth on his feet nervously.

"I want to talk with little fella."

"She's not here."

"She wasn't home."

Kay's eyebrows nearly shot through the roof. "You mean you've already been to her place? Come on Joshua, I thought you were smarter than that. You've been wandering all around the city when we've got people we've got to hide from!"

Joshua shrank back, but was still at least a foot taller than her. "I'm sorry. Who's that?"He gestured towards Brin.

"She's a friend. Come on, let's get you home and pray to God that nobody saw you."

Of course there was no such luck. They left Kay's motorcycle at Foggle Towers and walked back to Joshua's house. It was quite a distance, but Kay felt a little better knowing that at least he wasn't walking around alone. She and Brin might be able to help if he got spotted. Then again, maybe not.

They were about a block from Joshua's house when she noticed a black car come around the corner behind them. She nudged Brin's side and signaled for her to get Joshua out of sight. He had already been seen, that was for sure, but maybe she could keep White distracted long enough for Brin to get Joshua home safely. She turned to face the oncoming car with her arms crossed. She could already see White's face, but who was sitting next to him? It didn't look like Otto. When the car pulled up next to her and the man climbed out, she groaned inwardly.

"You!"

Greg smiled at her. "You didn't think you could flirt with me at my party and run, did you? That was a stupid mistake to make."

Kay punched him right in the nose. She didn't make any other move, just stood there after she did it with her arms crossed again. "You didn't think you could keep some friends of mine hostage and keep me flirting with you, did you? Now _that_ was a stupid mistake to make."

He glared at her from behind his hand, which already showed blood coming between the fingers that were attempting to cover his nose. She kept her eyes on him, although she knew perfectly well that White had moved behind her to keep her sandwiched between the two Familiars. She had to keep them busy, which meant keeping their attention on her. When she heard the click of a gun behind her, she turned to give White a tiny smile.

"How have things been for you Ames?" she asked sweetly. "Not that I care, you know."

He smiled back, the smile every bit as cold and humorless as hers. Although her face seemed at ease, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Every muscle in her body was prepared for a fight and she was scared as hell. She could have taken on White on her own, but two Familiars were a little much. She didn't even have Brin for backup. Now she regretted her decision to have Brin take Joshua home. Joshua would have been welcome help. He wasn't very good at the fighting skills Manticore had taught to the others, but he was plenty strong. White and Greg would never be able to beat him. Now she just held eye contact with White and struggled not to show how scared she really was.

He finally decided to answer her question. "I'm doing fine now that I've found you. I have a few questions for you, 358."

"What if I don't feel like answering?"

"I know there are ways of making you talk."

Greg's voice came from behind her. "There are ways of making you come with us as well." She turned to fight, knowing fully well what was coming and wishing more than ever that she hadn't sent Brin and Joshua away. Greg slammed a briefcase from the car into her chest, shoving her back into White's arms. The last thing she saw was the pleased little glint in Greg's eyes as White brought his gun down on her head.

* * *

Brin poked her head into the basement where she had just smashed the window. It was filled with boxes that looked as though they had been hastily moved out of the neighboring room. That was probably where White was set up. She wondered if he had the full lab setup she had been told he'd had last time. How could these people keep moving all that expensive equipment? Why they would want to confused her. If they were just supposed to kill transgenics, why did they bother studying them? She slid in through the window, only getting stuck once, and made her way through the pile of strewn boxes as soundlessly as she could. She didn't know why she bothered. If they hadn't heard her smash that window, they wouldn't hear her walking. Still, she didn't want to take the chance. She didn't know if the Familiars had hearing as sensitive as the X5s, but she'd be careful just in case. 

Joshua poked his head into the window right after she reached the door and announced the coast was clear. He had assured her after Kay sent them away that he could get home safely on his own, but when Brin had gone back to see how things were going, he had followed her. Seeing as how he didn't seem to know the meaning of sneaky, Brin realized he was following her after about two minutes. Still, once he knew that Kay was in trouble, she couldn't get him to go back. He could be helpful anyways. Brin tried not to laugh as Joshua tried to cram his way through the window. There was nobody in the other room which was also filled with boxes, so she went back to drag him the rest of the way through. She actually had to grab hold of him and put both feet against the wall and pull. The poor guy was rubbing his head during their whole trip upstairs; she had grabbed him by the hair first.

The first floor of the warehouse was packed with science junk. There were even a few things Brin couldn't identify. At the first sound of footsteps approaching, Brin shoved Joshua around the corner and she ducked behind a table. White, Greg, and a very eccentric-looking scientist came into the room, arguing the whole way.

Greg had his arms crossed over his chest. "I don't want to leave!"

"Greg, this is business. If my superiors knew that you were here, I'd have a lot of questions to answer. You have to leave!" White looked as though he had been arguing for quite some time now. His face was red and Brin could actually see a vein pulsing in his forehead. When Greg opened his mouth to say something back, White backhanded him angrily. It had enough force to send Greg straight into the wall. When he stood up again, he looked stunned.

"I am your elder, Ames. You know how the Conclave feels about respect for the elders."

White scowled. "I don't really care at the moment. I want you gone yesterday, and you know perfectly well I can beat you if you care to get physical."

Greg didn't look too happy, but he left. The strange scientist looked as though he had been dying to talk for quite some time now. White nodded at him and sat down in one of the old metal chairs in the room.

"What do you need to say? I have to do some questioning with 358."

"That's just the problem sir, you can't do that."

"Oh, and just why not?"

"I've done a few experiments. I don't think she'll be in the right state of mind to answer anything clearly."

Brin was furious. Did this guy just think they were guinea pigs? Apparently White wasn't too happy with this news either. "What the hell do you mean? What kind of experiments?"

The scientist looked nervous now, as he should be. "Um, I was curious about what you told me from one of your other encounters with this X5. You said she had heat cycles. I was simply curious to see if these heat cycles could be induced."

"Are you telling me you drugged her to make her come into heat?"

"Yes, exactly. There's just a few problems with it though."

"What are you talking about? There had better be nothing fatal, I need some important information and she's the only one I know of that I can get it from."

"Well, I don't think it's fatal. I can't be sure."

White's eyes narrowed and his fingers ran along the barrel of the gun at his side. The scientist gulped audibly. "I, uh, I am not sure of the side effects. The drug should almost definitely bring her into heat, but it won't be a normal heat. The drug is meant to make her ovulate, which means she'll spring right into the strongest part of her cycle. It'll last longer as well, but that's only if the drug works perfectly."

"What happens if it doesn't?"

"Um, she'll be in heat for a while, but while the drug is supposed to raise her body temperature just like when she's in heat, her body could react and then the rise of body temperature won't stop. She could be sent into a high fever and become violently ill. A fever as high as one she might get from the drug could cause her to have hallucinations and lose quite a bit of strength. Even if we could get the fever to come back down, she wouldn't be in her right mind for a while." Now he was almost terrified. White was actually gripping the gun and had his finger toying at the trigger. Brin knew perfectly well that if the drug went wrong that this man would die. Of course, he'd die only after he had saved Kay. If he didn't save her, then he would likely be beaten first.

Brin had heard enough. She slid back around the corner to where Joshua was. It was obvious that he hadn't understood a word that had been said, but he could tell by the look on Brin's face that it wasn't good. She put a finger to her lips before he could say a word. She didn't need White finding Joshua. Kay was going to be hard enough to sneak out. They headed through the halls, hoping to come to Kay's door from the opposite side that White would. They were in such a hurry that they didn't hear White tell the now terrified scientist "I'm going to go see if she is still capable of answering my questions, and if she isn't, you're as good as dead, my friend."

* * *

Kay awoke feeling as though she hadn't moved in years. Her body was cold and stiff. She frowned as she got hesitantly to her feet. It felt a little strange, but other than that her head felt fine. She walked around the tiny stone room she had been placed in, trying to make the stiffness go away. The room was almost completely pitch black except for the crack of light coming in under her door. As she moved around, her body went from freezing cold to boiling hot. The room was stuffy and she almost felt like undressing to avoid the heat. She heard her stomach growl loudly in the darkness and rubbed it. She could actually feel it rumbling under her hand. _What the hell is going on? _This was an awful lot like being in heat, but that was impossible, she'd been in heat only about three or four weeks ago. She'd have to see a man to be sure though. 

Kay went and sat down in the far corner of the room. She was worried now, something was up. If she wasn't in heat, her body temperature was up. Through her shirt she could feel the sweat building up, getting heavier every moment. She wondered vaguely if Joshua and Brin had made it home okay. Her head shot up as she heard voices down the hall. It sounded like some men arguing. Her body got warmer than ever, if that was possible. _Dammit, how can I be in heat? _She tried to block them out but they luckily started going in the opposite direction. After a few minutes, someone went storming past her room without slowing down. The other voices continued farther away, then seemed to stay right where they were. Maybe they had sat down to talk or something. For a little bit they were calm, then one voice grew angry and the other became nervous. Even through her clouded head she managed to recognize the angry voice as White's, but the other one belonged to a stranger. A few seconds more, and another set of footsteps were headed for her door, this time stopping right outside. When she heard the jingle of keys, she prayed that it wasn't a man coming in. Of course, it ended up being worse than that.

White finally managed to open the old, rusty door. When he stepped in, without even knowing what she was doing, Kay jumped to her feet and headed for him. When he spotted her coming, he started to pull himself into a fighting stance but found out immediately it wasn't needed when she said huskily, "What took you so long?"

They both had one last thought. Kay's was _what am I doing? _while White's was _I don't think my questions will be answered soon._ No sooner did those thoughts run through their heads than Kay practically jumped on him and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Her head was thrown into a tailspin. Despite the fact that this was the strongest heat she had ever experienced, her own mind was protesting this decision with all its might. Old pictures that Manticore had shown them with the word ENEMY written on them flashed through her head. As if her mind was trying to stop what was going on, while she kissed him she threw a punch into his side. He jumped slightly, but it had startled him rather than hurt him. After all, it was really only a halfhearted punch. Right after she did it she moved her hand to the back of his head again. After a few more seconds she yanked on his hair, but went back to kissing him, the cologne he was wearing totally overwhelming her. When she did things like that out of the blue a couple more times, White started expecting them. She wasn't doing it with all her strength because her heat was completely screwing her up, so it wasn't affecting him too badly.

Kay felt her back get slammed against the wall. The sane part of her mind screamed out again, but she struggled to ignore it. If he could give her what her body needed, then she would get it and that was that. _But I'm going to hate myself when it's over._ She tried to shake that thought off. That was later, this was now, and she wanted it right now. Her hands moved away from his head and started pulling at his suit. It seemed as though she couldn't get it off fast enough. First the jacket, then the shirt. It didn't really want to come off and when she opened her eyes to look down and see why, she saw his tie. Even though it wasn't the same tie as last time, Kody's words still went through her head. _"It's going to kill someone."_ She tried to ignore the memory and managed to get the tie off without killing White, but for some reason something came into her head. _He's going to kill Wendy. _It came as a shock to her and she didn't know why it had popped into her head like that, but it seemed to fit. The Familiars would have ordered him to kill Wendy because she knew too much, and because he said he loved her he wasn't going to want to do it. _"He doesn't know it yet, but he's going to do it."_ The heat part of her tried screaming back _Shut up, Kody!_ but the memory had already hit home.

Kay braced her feet against the wall and shoved White away as hard as she could. Maybe if she could put some distance between them, she could pull herself together. He managed to stay on his feet but stumbled back several feet, looking dazed. His shirt was still on but was open, showing how hard he was breathing. Kay tore her eyes away from him and looked at the floor as if she'd go blind if she looked away.

"Get out of here," she managed to choke out, her eyes never leaving the floor. "I don't know what you did to me, but I want you out of here."

White grabbed his tie and jacket off the floor. Now that he was getting over what had just happened, he looked angry with himself. He apparently hadn't meant to do anything like that. Kay let herself sink to the floor once he was gone. This was not a normal heat, it never started out this strong. Usually her strong part was at the end. She had no doubt now that they had done something to cause this. White probably hadn't known about it initially, judging from the way he had reacted to her. Maybe it was just some doctor or scientist that wanted to play around with a transgenic. Whatever it was, it pissed her off. She was more than just some lab rat for them to play around with.

Kay shook her head, trying to stop thinking. The only thing she wanted to do now was sleep this off. She lay down on her side and closed her eyes, trying to force herself to forget what she had almost done.

* * *

Brin was almost ready to kick the asses of all the idiots in front of her. They were apparently the security for the building, but while she and Joshua were sneaking through the halls, they nearly ran into the entire force just sitting in a hallway intersection playing cards. It looked like they were playing poker, but she couldn't be sure. They seemed to have changed some of the rules. This meant though that they were blocking the path to Kay's room. Brin and Joshua had been sitting in the same spot for about ten minutes just waiting for them to leave. Finally, Brin gave up. 

"Come on, big fella. Let's go back around the other way and try to get past White."

He nodded and lumbered after her, trying as hard as he could to keep up. He was strong, but his speed was nowhere near that of the X5s. Brin had to constantly slow down to let him catch up. She was quickly losing her patience for this, she was a soldier, not a babysitter. When they made it back to the lab, White was about to walk out.

"I'm heading home, Jake, so keep an eye on 358."

The scientist, Jake, nodded and looked as though he couldn't be more relieved to see the back of that man. Brin couldn't help feeling hopeful, it didn't look as though White had gone to talk to Kay. If he had, he would probably still be there, whether it was asking questions or not being able to escape Kay in heat. Hopefully the drug hadn't worked.

After White was out of sight, Brin headed for Jake. She moved quickly and quietly, so he didn't even know there was someone else in the room until she snapped his neck. She motioned for Joshua to follow her, then once again headed for Kay's room. This time they made it there with no delays, and Brin spent at least half an hour trying to break into the room. That door wouldn't budge an inch, which made her last nerve nearly snap. She was about to blow up on the spot when Joshua pulled her off to the side, giving her a tiny smile.

"I can get it."

He took a few steps back, then threw his entire body weight into the door. It practically flew into the room, and Joshua hurried in hoping it hadn't hit Kay. Lucky for him it hadn't. She was in the corner, curled up in a ball on her side and sound asleep. When Brin saw her, she was immediately worried. With their sensitive hearing, she couldn't see how Kay could have possibly slept through her attempts to open the door, much less Joshua charging through it. Maybe the drug had worked and her body was reacting like Jake had said it would. Brin walked over and felt Kay's forehead. It was so hot she almost had to jerk her hand away. It worried her even more when Kay didn't wake up from being touched. Brin shook her gently by the shoulders, which were just as hot as her forehead. After a few good, hard shakes, Kay's eyes opened a little bit. Even Joshua was worried now, her eyes looked glazed over.

Kay looked up at Brin and felt completely confused. Where was she? Why was Brin shaking her? Why was Joshua here? She couldn't answer any of those questions, and to her surprise she couldn't even ask them. When she opened her mouth to speak, it felt as though it would take all her energy to say even a couple of words. Her head felt like it was about to explode and her body was shaking. Even though she was sweating, she felt like it was below zero in the room. After a moment, she saw Brin gesture towards Joshua, who came and picked her up easily. She felt like a limp rag in his arms, and hated that she felt so helpless. She doubted she could so much as do a high kick without falling over from exhaustion.

When they got to the lab, the first thing that registered for her was a man's body on the ground with the head twisted at a strange angle. The next thing that hit her was the smell of cologne. At first she thought she was going nuts, but the smell seemed to come from just outside the lab door. It was familiar and she was sure she had smelled it recently, but her head was so muddled that she couldn't remember what had happened since she had been knocked out on the street. Not clearly anyways. It was all fuzzy in her head, but she clearly remembered that cologne. She tried to say something, but couldn't.

Brin went flying back into Joshua when White hit her as she came out the door. "Did you really think I didn't notice you when I left?" Brin didn't reply, just grabbed the tray of test tubes closest to her and threw it at him. It didn't really do enough damage to slow him down, but the glass cutting into him was enough to distract him for just the right amount of time. Brin shot out the door and Joshua followed closely, making sure he slammed into White on his way.

Kay watched everything happen in a daze. Why had she recognized that cologne? The answer was right at the edge of her mind, but for some reason she couldn't get it to come out. She watched as Joshua carried her out into the street. Brin obviously didn't know what to do. It wouldn't have been so hard if it weren't for Joshua. He was easy to see. Brin turned to look at Kay. She looked worse every second. Kay struggled to force her lips to open. If she could just get it out, she could help. When they hid around the side of the building so Brin could work out a plan, Kay managed to say what she wanted.

"Go...home. I'll..stay....with.......Joshua." Kay nearly collapsed with the effort of talking. She had never spoken so slowly in her life. Brin looked horrified at the idea of leaving Kay this helpless with Joshua, but Kay managed to shake her head.

"Get....motorcycle. I'll..get..home...another way."

Brin frowned, but she wasn't sure what else to do. She had the sudden urge to call Zack and get him and Ben to come down, but that would make it even worse if they were all caught. She finally turned and headed for Foggle Towers, where the bike was parked. Kay was relieved to see her go. Joshua could get her to safety easily enough. He peeked around the corner of the building to see if it was clear. When he was satisfied, he picked her up again and headed out. He was going for his house, which she found out really wasn't all that far away. She hadn't been taken very far after she had been knocked out.

Once they were in his house, Joshua laid her down on the couch. "What do I do?"

Kay thought for a moment, then decided they had to take a risk. "Go to Logan's and get him to come here. I think I'm going to need that doctor friend of his."

Joshua nodded and didn't even argue about it being too dangerous. It was obvious he liked any excuse to go outside. After he left, Kay worked on keeping her eyes open. She tried to find something interesting to look at, which might keep her awake. She didn't want to take the chance of whatever was going on killing her in her sleep. Her eyes finally landed on a painting. It was really just splashes of color on canvas, but it was kind of pretty to look at. She remembered Alec telling her about Joshua painting, then smiled as she remembered the tale of their fiasco as they tried getting one of the paintings back from a gallery because they had plastered important papers of Max's to it. It was funny to think that Joshua was doing so well with this, because if anyone knew what he was they wouldn't want his paintings at all. Of course, the lady at the gallery must know now that she'd seen him, but she seemed to respect him even more for it.

As she stared at the painting, memories started flashing back. She remembered waking up in the room and walking around to loosen up. Kay kept staring at the bright colors and suddenly had a quick flash of kissing someone. Whoever it was was impossible to see because of how close she was to him. ENEMY flashed through her head. The colors almost looked like they were swirling now. The smell of the cologne filled her nostrils, although it wasn't really there, just the memory of it. Wasn't that the cologne White was wearing when he attacked Brin as they were getting out? With his face in her mind, the memory of him entering the room and her jumping on him came back. She was horrified. _Oh please tell me I didn't oh God please tell me I didn't! _She couldn't remember what happened, though.

Kay was still trying to remember when Joshua came back, this time flanked by Max and Logan. Max's eyes widened in horror when she saw Kay's face. It reminded her of when Logan had first been affected by the virus.

"What happened to you?"

Kay honestly didn't know what to say, but thankfully Joshua answered for her. "Crazy man drug her, make her in heat. Didn't work right, gives fever. Keeps going up."

Now Kay understood. The way she was feeling right now was a side effect of the drug they had given her to make her come into heat. But if Joshua had said it right, this fever was just going to keep climbing. She tried to say she wanted so see a doctor, but the words wouldn't come out. She had tired herself trying to remember what had happened when she was in heat.

Max seemed to understand, though. "We have to get Sam to look at her."

She reached down and lifted Kay up. Kay didn't see the scared look Max sent to Logan when she felt how hot Kay was. The whole ride to the hospital seemed to blur together for Kay. She heard Logan and Max whispering to each other. Joshua had been forced to stay back at his house. He wasn't really needed at the hospital. She felt rather than saw the frightened looks Max was sending her way. It was getting hotter for her all the time, almost to the point where she would have gladly dived into a snowdrift.

The bright lights in the hospital flashed by so fast it seemed as if the entire ceiling was one long beam of light. It hurt her head so badly she could have screamed if any noise would come out of her throat. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears, and her head throbbed with each one. She wasn't even aware her body had gone into an immense seizure, jerking the bed she was on with such force the nurses were barely able to keep it going straight. She was vaguely aware of Max telling her it would be alright and that she would see her in a little bit. _Yeah right, have you taken a look at me? _She couldn't help the sarcasm running through her head. With the way she felt, she wasn't too sure she was going to make it. She didn't remember the bed stopping, but she heard Dr. Carr call for ice. Soon she was surrounded by bags of it, and it felt great against her skin. She hadn't noticed that they had removed most of her clothing, which had been drenched in sweat. The world was all running together and she couldn't make sense of anything no matter how hard she tried. All she knew was she wanted to go back to two weeks ago, back to when she was with Ben.

Kay felt like he was the only person who understood her. For a while she had thought that Zack understood, but once he got his memory back it was as though he had forgotten how he'd felt about her. Of course, that had been slightly different. Zack hadn't remembered her or what she'd been through, so he could never really understand what went through her head. Ben, on the other hand, knew who she was, remembered hating her, and still managed to love her. Or maybe he didn't. What if he had only slept with her that time to make her feel better about what had happened with Kody? Did he love her? She wasn't really sure. It had felt like he did with how gentle he'd been with her, but maybe that was just the way he was. Was that the reason he had run from her afterwards? Was he ashamed that he had just slept with someone he didn't care about? The more Kay thought about it, the more her feverish mind was sure that he didn't care about her at all. She had no idea that at this exact moment he was sitting on top of the tallest barn, worrying about her since Brin had told him what had happened and wishing he hadn't turned his back on her when she needed him most and could have used his support. Although she felt Zack hated what she had done, she didn't know that he was chopping wood at double speed, trying to work out his anger with himself, blaming himself for turning his back on her for being with Ben when he had just been jealous and causing her to run into this whole situation without extra help.

The doctors' panicked voices came to her through the haze of thoughts. She had the feeling the ice wasn't working. The heat wasn't going away, no matter how hard they tried. She turned her head slightly and saw Max standing in the corner of the room with Logan with tears in her eyes. Kay hated herself at that moment. She was putting her newly recovered sister through all this pain when she didn't deserve to be mourned. She hadn't told Max when Zack had gotten his memory back or that Lydecker hadn't been killed. That wasn't too bad, but she hadn't told her about Ben and Brin being alive either, which was horrible because Max blamed herself for both their deaths. Last but not least, she might have slept with Max's enemy while in that fake heat. No, she didn't deserve Max's sympathy or love because she was probably the opposite of what a sister is supposed to be. It was her last thought before she slipped into blackness.

* * *

The farm was full of worried people. Brin was sitting in her now empty house, wishing things hadn't gone so horribly wrong. Zack had locked himself in his bedroom and was doing pushups and sit-ups, making himself go past even the X5 limit. Ben was sitting on top of the tallest barn, hating himself for how awful he had been to her. He had slept with her when she was feeling her worst and left her, and now he might not even get the chance to apologize. She had turned to him for comfort and he had made her feel worse. If only he hadn't run, then he might have been there to help her before those assholes drugged her. There was only one thing running through his mind, he had to get to her, if only to tell her he was sorry and he loved her. He had just been scared to admit it and felt as though he had taken advantage of her when she wasn't thinking clearly. He knew better than that. Kay wouldn't let her emotions get the best of her. 

Before he knew what he was doing, Ben had climbed onto Kay's motorcycle and flew out onto the road. He had to get to Seattle if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

Max sat on a bench outside Kay's room. Logan had gone to get some drinks, but he just wasn't comfort enough since he couldn't touch her. She couldn't believe she was losing another sibling. It felt as though everyone in her family who met her ended up being taken away. She was still completely miserable when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up into the blue eyes of the person next to her. 

"Alec? You'd think after how hard I kicked you that you wouldn't be able to walk right now."

He seemed confused for a moment, then sat down next to her, smiled, and put his arms around her. "I'm fine, you could never really hurt me."

She was about to shoot back a remark of her own when she saw his face. He wasn't being funny, he really meant it. He meant it in a deeper way, though. Why did he look so different? His sly grin was nowhere in sight, and his eyes looked so kind, not playful. He pulled her back to him, letting her cry on his shoulder.

"None of this is your fault, you've got to understand that. It's never been your fault."

Max had the feeling he wasn't just talking about Kay, but wasn't really in the mood to ask him what he meant. Maybe later. He finally sat back and looked her in the eyes again. Those eyes still were so different. Now that she was close, he smelled different too. He smelled like hay. She was about to ask him why when he cut her off.

"I need to see Kay, alright?"

She nodded and pointed at the room behind her. He smiled gently again and entered the room. Max still couldn't get rid of the feeling that something was so different about him.

* * *

Ben looked down at Kay's still form. He had been happy to see Max again, but these circumstances weren't the best for telling her who he was. Kay looked like she was already dead, which wasn't the case, not yet anyways. The doctors had finally just given up trying to save her when they realized there was nothing they could do. He could hear her struggle with every breath. He couldn't believe she had hung on this long. He reached down and took her hand, pain filling him inside when he felt how hot it was. 

"Kay? Can you hear me?"

He could have sworn her eyelids twitched, but other than that there was no other movement and he decided it had just been his imagination. He tried again with no response. He sat by her side talking to her for almost an hour. Somehow, she was still alive when he finally got up to leave, although he didn't know how it was possible. Her breathing had seemed to get better, but he was sure that was his imagination as well. Just as he reached the door, he thought he heard something. He turned back around.

"Kay, was that you?" No answer. He turned back to the door and heard it again.

"Ben?"

Her voice was so soft he thought he had to be dreaming. He moved back to her side and picked up her hand again.

"Yeah Kay, I'm here."

Her eyelids fluttered for a moment, then opened and her blue eyes looked for his. She smiled a little when she saw him, but it was almost sadder than when she was just laying there because it was obvious that it took quite a bit of effort for her to do that one simple thing. She took a deep breath and her lips opened again.

"I love you."

The words came as such a shock to him that he almost dropped her hand. "Are you sure that's not the fever talking?"

She shook her head so slightly it almost wasn't noticeable. "My mind is perfectly clear, just as it was last time."

Ben stared out the window, too ashamed of himself to look at her. So she had been in her right mind when she asked him to make love to her. He finally shook away his shame and leaned over her and planted a kiss on her forehead. It was hot, but cooler than before, and he was sure it wasn't his imagination this time. She was getting better.

"I love you too."

He loved the way she lit up when she smiled this time. She squeezed his hand gently. "I knew that before."

Ben blushed. She had managed to see through his worry of taking advantage of her. She rolled onto her side to prop herself up on her elbow, then kissed him. It was short-lived because she had to drop back to the bed, exhausted.

"Call Alec and see if he can set you up with a place to live. As soon as I'm better I want to go home."

He nodded, knowing he would have had to call Alec anyway to tell him to follow along with whatever Max might say he had done tonight. After she gave him Alec's address and number, he headed back out.

* * *

Max had fallen asleep on the bench after Logan left, but woke up when someone shook her gently. She opened her eyes to see Dr. Carr. 

"Did she die?"

He smiled and shook his head. "She woke up on her own and started killing the fever. I don't know how it happened, but she'd going to be fine."

Max's face lit up in a smile. She didn't even wait for him to give permission for her to go in there, she just went right in. When she saw Kay sitting up in bed and slowly eating a bowl of soup, she was absolutely beaming. Kay smiled.

"I take it this is good news?"

Max grinned. "It is now, but now don't you see what happens whenever you are out on your own? I think you should have to live with me from now on, just to make sure nothing happens to you."

Kay threw back her head and laughed. "What are you trying to do, kill me? I've had enough of that for today, thank you very much."


	16. At Least Things Can't Get Worse

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Outside

By Be Boring

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Chapter 16: At Least Things Can't Get Worse

Kay spent most of her time sitting in her hospital bed, wishing she could just get out of it. She had been here a couple weeks now, her body seemed to be taking longer to heal than usual. Of course, Dr. Carr said this was to be expected seeing as how her body temperature had gone about five degrees past the point where most normal humans would have died. She had reached 113 degrees, which made the fact that she was alive and recovering pretty amazing.

Max had been here every day to see her, as well as Ben, Logan, and Alec. Max always had good stories to tell from Jam Pony, Ben had laughingly told her about Zack being so relieved that she was okay that he had kissed Brin full on the mouth, Logan always brought her his own home-cooked food because she told him she'd rather starve to death than eat the hospital food, and Alec was the main entertainment. He'd piss off the nurses every chance he got because none of them were really interested in him. One time he'd carefully cut off the back part of the skirt of one of the nurses while she was wearing it; she'd walked around the rest of the day with her granny panties showing and she wasn't even aware of it. Kay had never laughed so hard in her life. Still, he was also the reason she'd had to bring Logan into her confidence.

The situation with Alec and Ben hadn't been too good. Alec hadn't been able to find a place for Ben to stay so they had stayed together. That had lasted about 12 hours, they had nearly killed each other. Finally, they had both come back to the hospital to tell her that it was not working out, and she'd been forced to call Logan. After hearing the situation and swearing he wouldn't tell Max until Ben was ready to, Logan had taken Ben to his house and hid him. It had become Alec's job to keep Joshua quiet about Brin, which almost had blown up in his face because by the time he had gotten to Joshua's Max was just about to hear the whole story from the dog boy himself. Alec had stopped it just in time, and made him say that there had been no one else. It had been a close, but thankfully they had managed to make Max believe it.

The strange thing was that lately Max and Logan hadn't been to see her. His blond friend Asha was bringing the food over. Kay didn't particularly care for Asha at first, but that was how she felt about most ordinaries she didn't know well. Really, she wasn't all that bad. They were actually getting along fairly well, Asha had warmed her over by bringing in a portable CD player and a bunch of CDs Kay had mentioned that she liked. Not even Ben had thought of that.

Kay was starting to worry about Max and Logan, Max in particular. It wouldn't have surprised her if Logan missed a few visits, but the fact that Max was missing them too was strange. Max was so protective of her family that it was amazing she didn't just move into the hospital with Kay. Kay knew they were together, but since the virus was still an issue she had no idea what they could be doing. Anyways, there were other problems.

Alec had informed her that Sketchy definitely had that job with the tabloid and was making it his own personal mission to find and exploit as many transgenics as he could. Now they would have to be even more careful to hide their barcodes. Well, that was one more person to be wary of.

At the moment she was talking to Alec while doing physical therapy of her own kind. Even though Dr. Carr had told her that it would be too hard on her body to be up and walking right now, she was already to the point of doing push-ups and sit-ups without letting the doctor know. The poor man would probably have a heart attack if he found out.

"Don't you think you've done enough for today?" Alec asked a little nervously. Kay had done well over 1,000 push-ups, which at the moment was quite the accomplishment for her.

She shook her head in mid-push-up. "I want to get my strength back and I'm going to go until I think there's no possible way I can stand it anymore."

"How many push-ups were you able to do back at Manticore? I could do about 1,200."

"1,500-1,700."

"Really? Are you actually that strong? I saw you kick 547's ass back at Manticore, but I had no idea you had that much power. Did they make you a little differently?"

Kay finally sat back and shrugged. "If they did, I haven't been told about it. Of course, Max never knew before she had no junk DNA. I don't think that's it with me though, since I'm stronger than Max. Maybe I was just a fluke."

"Nah, you're more than that. Lydecker probably knows, why don't you ask him?"

"I don't like talking to him."

"Why not? Max told me he never liked you back in Wyoming, but that was a long time ago."

"That's not it. I have my own reasons for not liking him. I'd rather just find Sandeman and get the answers from him."

"Well, have it your way but I would ask him. If you don't like talking to him face-to-face, then why don't you just call him? Do it right now if you want."

"I can't do it right now. He'd hear what kind of shape I'm in right now. I'm out of breath, sweaty, and have never been more exhausted. Still, going at it that hard made me feel better."

"I love it when you talk dirty."

Kay stuck out her tongue at him, but couldn't help but laugh. Alec had his own way of cheering her up, that was for sure. They both jumped when Max knocked on the door. Kay climbed slowly to her feet and gave a little wave before she flopped herself out on her bed.

"You look sweaty and tired, and he's grinning like a fool. What did I miss?" Max teased.

Alec put both hands in the air, as if in surrender. "I'm innocent, I swear!"

Max snorted. "You're about as innocent as Hitler. Could you go for a while? I have something to discuss with Kay and it's not going to be short."

He offered a playful pout, but got out of his chair and exited the room. Max settled herself into the seat Alec had just vacated. Suddenly, she didn't look so happy, just unsettled, like she didn't know how to approach what she was going to say. Kay decided to break the uncomfortable silence.

"What's up? And don't say the ceiling."

Max smiled a little, but still looked unsure. Finally, she just spit it out. "We think Wendy's dead."

Kay swallowed hard, trying to push down the lump that had leapt into her throat. "Are you sure?"

"Well, Logan was on the phone with her. She said she had found Ray and needed to get him out of where he was. She was about to say her location when Logan said he heard a loud noise in the background and then the line went dead. He's not positive but he's pretty sure that loud noise was a door being kicked in. He's heard it enough times with me around to know what it is."

"Have you found her body?"

Max shook her head sadly. "No, when we tracked down where she had called us from, we found it to be freshly painted. We know it was her room because we found a roll of film in the freezer that had pictures of Ray. We got him out, but the cult seems to think he's dead."

"Why's that?"

"They were doing some kind of test. It had to do with snake's blood, and if he survived it then he would be part of the Familiars. He wasn't doing so good when I got to him, but at the last second his antibodies kicked in. That was after I got him out of there though, so they probably assumed he hadn't made it. I got some of this snake blood in my system too, but I had no reaction to it. It stamps you with a mark that's not too pretty." Max held out her hand to show Kay what looked to be the medical symbol in the middle of her palm. Kay looked at it, but wasn't all that interested. She couldn't care less about what happened in that freaky cult or what happened to Ray, the only thing that mattered to her was Wendy.

"Where's Logan?"

Max looked surprised by the question. "He's out in the hall. Why?"

"I need to talk to him."

Max's eyebrows were still raised, but she went into the hall and a moment later Logan walked in. His eyes were on the ground.

"I know what you're going to say," he stated before she got anything out of her mouth. "White killed Wendy. There may be no facts for anyone to find that will prove it, but Kody was enough proof for both of us."

Kay nodded, he had known what she was going to say. "I should have seen it coming. I had it figured out when Wendy first disappeared. I saw that tie the day I found Kody. If I ever catch him wearing it again, I'll strangle him with it." No sooner had the words left her lips than she realized that was how her friend had died, staring up into her husband's face as he choked off her air supply with a tie she had most likely bought for him.

Logan didn't notice the look on her face, however. "I wouldn't do that."

"What, strangle him? Why not?"

"I don't mean strangle him, necessarily, but letting him see you at all."

"Why not?"

"You said the last time he saw you was when you were in Joshua's arms, which meant you didn't look all that good. From the way the drug sounds, that fever should have killed you. Just as the Familiars assume Ray's dead, they assume you're dead as well."

Kay smiled grimly. "Wouldn't that be a kick in the ass for them if they found out we both made it?"

"I suppose it would, but we have to let them keep on thinking you're both dead."

"I understand why they have to think Ray's dead, but why me?"

"For your own safety. If you colored your hair, you could live wherever you wanted. Since they think you're dead, they're not exactly going to be looking for you. As long as you don't walk out in front of them and wave your arms around while yelling 'I'm 358 and I'm alive' then you're pretty much safe to live life how you want to."

Kay couldn't help but smile at the crazy image in her head of herself jumping around in front of White while saying she was alive. Then she remembered what had happened to cause her fever and the smile immediately left her face. Logan stood up and reached out to give her hand a gentle squeeze.

"If you want to talk about anything, just call."

Kay forced a smile and nodded, knowing he meant if she wanted to talk about Wendy. She couldn't imagine telling him that she hadn't been alone when the drug first kicked in as it was supposed to. She couldn't imagine telling Max that either. As Logan left and Max came back in, a question occurred to Kay.

"I know this may be a sort of personal question, but have you had any heat cycles lately?"

Max obviously hadn't expected that, but after a moment she frowned. "You know, I don't think I have. I guess that with all that's been going on I never really thought about it, but I haven't gone into heat since just before going back to Manticore. I don't know why that is."

Kay chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip. "You know, I don't think I ever noticed any of the other X5s in heat except for when we were younger and the cycles first started coming. I'm pretty sure they came up with a way to stop them, but for some reason they never used it on me. They must have gotten rid of your cycles when they recaptured you."

"Why wouldn't they fix your cycles?"

"I have no clue."

"I wish they had known when we were little that this was going to happen, then they might have stopped it then and saved me a lot of trouble."

"What was it like coming into heat in the outside world?"

Max sighed and flushed a little. "I was living in Colorado at the time, in a gang. They basically had the run of a large warehouse and you had to join them if you were going to sleep in it, which was my only option at the time. They weren't really that bad, but after I first went into heat I had to leave. I slept with the leader of the gang, and after I was out of heat he still wanted it. Of course, I wouldn't do it again after that so I had to run before he tried to force it out of me. I thought I was going crazy. I went through a few cycles before breaking into a house for food and finding a book on cats, which fully described their breeding habits. I pretty much put two and two together and started predicting when each heat was going to hit so I could get myself into a secluded area. What was it like going into heat in Manticore?"

Kay turned to look out the window as she talked. She was aware that Logan was standing just outside the door, listening with a sort of embarrassed interest, but she didn't know about her other visitor standing out there with him.

"I was about thirteen when it happened. I had been shipped back to the others for a little more group training, so I was back with our Wyoming group. Despite not being the oldest, I was the first to go into heat. I even got it before the older clones. It first hit me when we were outside running through the woods, looking for our target. I became really warm and kind of got worried that I was getting sick. My running partner was Sela, so I had no males around me. We were supposed to find someone with the opposite color and fight them. We had been split in half and each side had about the same strength, so there was a good chance I might have been lucky enough to run into one of the other girls. Of course, the only luck I have is bad. Sela and I ran into Lee and Kito, and I wound up fighting Kito. Sela and Lee moved out of sight, so Kito and I were on our own. We actually did start fighting, but I tried to throw him to the ground and he pulled me down with him. He was reacting to my hormones as much as I was and we were kissing before we even knew what we were doing."

Max looked horrified. "You slept with Kito?"

Kay blushed and shook her head. "Sela and Lee were still within hearing distance and they heard the unnatural sounds coming from our way. Thank God it was Sela who came to see what was going on and not Lee, or I would have been in even more trouble. Sela separated us and noticed I smelled different, so she took me up to the infirmary. I nearly jumped the first doctor who came to see what was going on with me. They did every test they could on my head, since they assumed maybe I was going nuts. This went on for about 36 hours, then I guess someone had a theory of what was happening."

Kay had been placed in a chair in the middle of the lab, wires connected to her head. Her hair had been pulled back so they could secure the wires, at the time her hair had been about six inches long since she had just been allowed to start growing it out. When a voice came into the room, perhaps through speakers, it asked her simple questions. She had to state her designation and things like that. She answered perfectly, wondering why they were bothering with this. After about ten minutes, a nurse came back in with a pair of scissors. Kay felt like shying away, she had no idea what was going on.

The nurse kneeled down by Kay's feet and Kay felt the cold metal of the scissors touch her ankle. She was ready to kick out when she heard the scissors cutting. It took her a few terrified moments to realize that the nurse was cutting her pants. The scissors came all the way up and cut along the seam until it ended at her hip. As soon as the left side of the pants had been cut perfectly in half, the nurse started on the right side. Kay was now completely confused. Her underwear had been cut as the scissors had come up. Had the nurse intended to do that? Totally in the dark as to what was happening to her, Kay could only watch as the nurse cut off her bottom layer of clothing completely and removed it. Then the nurse got going on her shirt. It didn't take much, she just cut straight up the middle in the front, then cut down both arms and pulled the shirt out from behind Kay's back. A couple snips and the bra they had given her when her body started maturing was gone.

Kay was stunned when they blindfolded her with her own torn shirt. At least now she could let the fear in her eyes show. Her arms were strapped down to the arms of the chair, which didn't bother her all that much, but when her knees were being fastened to the edge of the chair, she tried to close them. It took a few people to get the job done, and when it was finished Kay's face was a fine color of red. She was completely exposed now and she didn't like it at all. What was the point of this?

New footsteps approached her and she stiffened slightly, already preparing for something unpleasant. She heard the person get down on their knees so they were more on her head level, then she heard the breathing. She had no doubt whoever it was was a man and, despite her fear and confusion, felt her heartbeat quicken.

"Hold still now, 358. This is just a test."

Kay's speeding heart nearly stopped at the sound of the voice. She knew who this was and didn't want him seeing her like this. She kept her mouth shut though, she didn't want to get in trouble. The voice in the speakers was no longer asking questions but was giving orders, and they were not directed to her but to him. They were telling him what to do with his hands. At first, he only touched her in simple, inoffensive places like her face, arms, feet, and stomach. Then, under direction from the speaker's voice, he was no longer touching her innocently. Despite her mind's horror, her body reacted. She bit down on her lip to try and hold it back, but before long there were low, guttural sounds coming from her throat. She squirmed in her restraints, no longer trying to escape but trying to get closer to him. He really wasn't there that long, no more than three minutes, but in her mind it had been forever. At the very end, he pulled his hands off her and kissed her to see her reaction. Naturally, Kay kissed back, not fully understanding what was going on. When he pulled back, he left her so he could talk to the doctors, leaving her completely unraveled.

Kay could hear the doctors telling him that she had the mating cycles of a cat rather than the menstruation cycles of a human. This didn't make a lot of sense to her, but later on when she studied animals it would become clear to her. Her body still was in overdrive, but it was calming enough so she could think clearly. She was horrified by what had just happened. The X5s were so cut off from normal life that they had no idea what sex or intimate touching were. Manticore had never bothered to explain these things, and they really never did. It was the fact that she had no idea what he had been doing that scared her so much, and the fact that it had been him that was doing it.

The nurses came back to her and took off her blindfold and restraints, then handed her some new clothes. As Kay slipped them on, she saw him on the other side of the room, getting a key handed to him by one of the guards. Her mind felt both longing and revulsion at the same time, which scared her as much as him touching her. The men all backed up to give her room as she came through, following the nurses to a cell down the hall. At least this one had a bed in it. That meant she wasn't trouble. When you got in trouble and were put into isolation, there was nothing in the room.

Kay had lain on the bunk, trying to figure out now that she was on her own what was going on with her. Was she going crazy? Why wasn't Kito being tested as well? He had acted just like she had. She never really got the answers to those questions until she figured it out on her own later. She didn't know how long she lay there, but she eventually heard footsteps coming to her door. It couldn't possibly be time for her to go yet. She sat up to meet whoever it was and her face paled when she saw his shadow in the doorway. She really had no control over herself, unknown to her she had reached her peak, and she basically threw herself at him. He saw it coming and shut the door behind him before she reached him.

He didn't leave until she was out of heat.

"They touched my body to see how I reacted, and I think you can guess how I did. I saw them give the one who tested me the key to my room. Later on, when they had locked me in there, he came in. I don't think I need to give you any more details."

"Yes, I think you do."

Kay was surprised. "What kind of details do you want? I told you what you wanted to know."

"You didn't tell me who it was."

"Who?"

"The one who tested you and came into your room later. Who was he? Was he one of the doctors?"

Kay was chewing on her lip again as she shook her head. "No."

"Then why was he there?"

"Probably hoped I was going nuts and they would have to put me down," Kay spat bitterly. Max thought for a moment, then her eyes widened.

"Oh no."

Kay looked up at her, knowing that she had figured it out. "What?"

"It couldn't have been...Your heat cycle couldn't have been that bad...but he's the only man that I know of that would wish you dead. Please tell me you didn't."

Yep, she definitely knew. "Didn't what?"

"Do I actually have to say those words out loud?"

"Maybe, to see if we're talking about the same person." The look on Kay's face was enough to tell Max that what she had guessed was true.

"Oh my God, you lost your virginity to...Lydecker?!"

Kay cringed after hearing it said out loud. She couldn't make herself meet Max's eyes. She knew perfectly well the expressions that were running across her sister's face. When Kay didn't deny it, Max walked over to the window, the look of stunned horror still on her face. Kay could hear her muttering over there.

"How could he? He thought of us as his kids!"

"He never thought of me as one of his kids."

Max didn't reply, and Kay turned to look at the door. She saw Logan there, watching Max with concern in his eyes, but was stunned when she saw the other person standing there. Most people would have thought Alec hadn't left, but she could tell by his eyes it wasn't Alec. Ben looked like he was ready to kill again, but this time Kay knew it wouldn't be her. She met his eyes and saw the pain in them that she had gone through something like that. He was the one to break the eye contact as he turned and headed off down the hall. Kay knew perfectly well what he was going to do. Despite what Lydecker had done to her, he was important to them and they couldn't let anything happen to him yet. She mouthed to Logan 'call Buddy'. She could tell that he didn't know why she wanted him to do that, but he took off down the hall for the payphones anyway. Max was still standing by the window when Logan came back and nodded to Kay that he done what she wanted. He turned and shut the door to give Max and Kay some real privacy.

When Max turned to come back by the bed, she couldn't look at Kay. Kay felt a little hurt, but knew it wasn't Max's fault. "Max, don't be upset. It was eight years ago, things are fine now."

"But that was practically rape! I felt terrible when I slept with this guy named Rafer the last time I was in heat, but you couldn't really hold it against him because he didn't know what was happening. Lydecker _did_ know what was going on and he took advantage of you. How did you face him after that?"

"I didn't have to. By the time I was out of heat, the others had finished the group training and they sent me back to Seattle. He was there, but his time was spent either looking for you guys or training the X7s. He didn't come back any of the other times I was in heat, if that's what you're wondering. It was just that one time."

"How many other people took advantage of you like that?"

"A couple curious guards, a doctor or two. Only once was it another X5, but he's dead now."

"Who was it?"

"X5-206, Zane's clone. He was killed in one of his missions. We were on a mission together once when I came into heat and Manticore ordered him to keep me away from people until I was out of heat. He took me to one of those hunting cabins in the woods, but he couldn't control himself any more than I could once we were there."

"Have you ever wound up pregnant?"

Kay shook her head. "Do you remember when we were young and Ben shot me in the side during one of our target practices?"

Max nodded.

"The internal bleeding ended up destroying my ovaries, so I couldn't become pregnant. Unfortunately, due to the fact that I still have my uterus, I still go into heat. They could have removed that and saved me the trouble."

Max nodded again, looking a little relieved. It would have made the story worse if Kay had been pregnant with Lydecker's child. "At least after Lydecker you can't ever get anything worse," she managed to joke.

Kay didn't answer, she _had_ done worse. At least, she might have. Max noticed the silence.

"Don't tell me you did worse."

"I really don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I mean that I don't remember."

"When did it happen?"

"When I got the drug that landed me here."

"But I thought you were alone when Joshua found you?"

"I was, but I wasn't alone before that."

"Don't tell me..."

"I think you can guess."

"White?"

"Maybe, but like I said, I can't remember."

"What exactly can't you remember? If you knew you weren't alone before Joshua got there, then you must remember something."

Kay hesitated, she didn't want to give Max any more bad news today, then plunged into the story anyways. "I remember White coming in and I remember kissing him, but things get fuzzy after that. The next thing I remember is waking up with Joshua there and feeling like I was burning up."

Max couldn't believe she was hearing this. She felt more than sorry for her sister going through this, but she also felt a little repulsed by it. "I'm going to go get something to drink. Do you want anything?"

Kay shook her head and nearly burst into tears when Max left. She felt horrible, even though she hadn't really willingly done anything wrong. When Max disappeared at the other end of the hall, Logan came back in by her.

"You didn't, you know."

"What are you talking about?"

"You wouldn't have done anything with him."

"What makes you say that?"

"You said earlier that you had it figured out when Wendy disappeared that White was going to kill her. If you knew that when you got drugged, I find it hard to believe that even with your body going crazy that you would have done anything with him. Try to think hard, do you remember pushing him away from you at any time?"

Kay thought as hard as she could. She started by running through what she already remembered, and just let it continue. She remembered the kissing, and she remembered starting to tear his clothes off. She saw herself ripping off his jacket, then trying to get at the shirt. She felt the shirt not quite want to give way, then she remembered getting off the tie. Then it hit her that that was the moment that she'd realized White was going to kill Wendy. She could feel herself pushing him away, fighting her desire when she saw his bare, sweaty chest heaving from breathing so hard.

Logan smiled when he saw the delighted grin break out on her face. "See? You didn't do anything with him, did you?"

Kay was almost laughing with relief. "I made him stop! It's all okay, I made him stop!" She felt like screaming it out for everyone to hear. She actually jumped up and threw her arms around Logan, squeezing him until she heard him grunt in pain. She blushed and stepped back, then blushed harder when she saw Max standing in the doorway. Max had her eyebrows raised sky high, and Kay nodded her head to acknowledge her presence. Logan's face flushed when he saw her, then he sat down in the chair and Kay settled herself back onto the bed.

"Relax, I was just happy."

"About what?"

"I just remembered not doing anything."

Even though most others wouldn't have understood at all what that was about, Max did, and the smile that lit her face practically made the room glow. For once she had good news from Kay. She leaned down and hugged Kay. This time it was Kay who gave the grunt of pain. When Max sat back, she looked up at the clock in the room.

"Oh, Normal's going to kill me! I gotta get back before I lose my job. I'll be back to see ya later, okay?"

Kay nodded and waved her and Logan off. She leaned back into her pillows, still as happy as she could be that she hadn't slept with White. Lydecker was bad enough, she didn't need her list to get even more embarrassing for her.

Kay had probably slept for about three hours when her bedside phone rang. She groggily reached over to answer it.

"'lo?"

"Kay? It's Mary. What in the world is going on here? Zack, Ben, and Brin are all tearing Lydecker apart! I think he's locked himself in the tack room of the barn, but that's not going to last long!"

Oh great, there's three X5s on that old bastard now. He needs to answer some questions for me first. "Just hold on Mary, I'll be there soon."

When she hung up the phone, she had no idea what to do. She had no doubt that Ben had taken her motorcycle back to the farm, so she was left without a ride. She was so deep in thought that she nearly jumped out of her bed when there was a knock on the door. Sketchy held up a hand in the peace symbol as though that would calm her down before he stepped through the doorway.

"I heard from Max and Alec that you were hurt, but I've been busy. I had a delivery here so I just decided to pop in. I haven't seen you since we pretended to be man and wife." He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.

Kay rolled her eyes and motioned with her hand for him to sit down. Maybe he could help her.

"You don't happen to know a place where I can get a ride, do you?"

"What, you need new wheels?"

"Yeah."

"There's this guy in some town just outside Seattle that owes me a favor. He lost a bet to me a while back and owes me a lot of money, but I might be able to talk him into giving me a car for you."

"What's this going to cost me? It's an awful lot to offer without wanting anything in return."

"Pay me in cash once you have the money. I could get kinky, but you wouldn't go for it. Am I right?"

Kay nodded, even Sketchy was smart enough to know she wouldn't go that far just for a car. "Do you think you could take me over there now?"

Sketchy looked surprised. "Are you even released from here yet?"

"They don't have to know anything. I'm strong enough to hold my own."

"Well, I was looking for an excuse to play hookie from work this afternoon."

Ten minutes later Kay found herself going down a strangely familiar road. "What's the name of the place we're going to?"

"You know, I don't think it really has a name. If it does, then nobody remembers it."

Now Kay knew where they were going. They were going to where she used to live just after she got out of Manticore. Hopefully no one there was on the lookout for her because of White. She wasn't sure if he had left her description and what she was so that the people could tell him when she showed up again. She felt a small pang when they entered the town. She had missed it here with everyone knowing each other and being friendly. There weren't many places like that anymore.

When Sketchy pulled into the driveway of one of the nicer houses in town, she was horrified to see it was Mark's neighbor. She knew this place because this guy gambled all the time and was always buying new vehicles to show off how much he won. No wonder Sketchy had figured he could get her a car from here. She just hoped to God that Mark wasn't home. No such luck.

Sketchy was pounding on the door while Kay waited in the car, but no one was answering. That was when Mark walked over.

"He's at the bar on the other side of town. He might not be back for a while."

"Why is he at the bar?"

"I take it you're someone else he owes for gambling?" At Sketchy's nod, he continued. "He's there right now paying off someone else he owes. They seemed like tough people, I'm not so sure he'll even be coming back. Want to have a beer while you wait? I've got too many to finish off on my own."

Sketchy turned towards the car. "I've got a friend along, otherwise I would."

When Mark saw her, his eyes widened to roughly the size of golf balls. "Kay? Is that you?"

Kay sighed in resignation and climbed out of the car as he walked down towards her. She had just shut the door when he pulled her into a close hug. "Haven't seen you for a while. Where did you go? Did you leave because of that Halloween thing?"

Now Sketchy looked curious. "What Halloween thing?"

Kay shot Mark a pleading look. Since Sketchy was now on the lookout for transgenics, she couldn't have him finding out about anything even slightly suspicious. Mark seemed to get her drift.

"Oh, nothing really, but Halloween was the last time I saw her. So, where did you go?"

"I stay in Seattle every now and then, but I have a place quite a ways from here." She wasn't about to tell anyone where she lived. He nodded, but didn't seem quite satisfied. Kay turned to Sketchy.

"Why don't you go ahead and get the beers out? If we have to wait then we'll wait."

Sketchy was no longer suspicious now that he was getting beer. He headed for Mark's house while Kay stayed behind with Mark. She knew he had questions, but she didn't want them asked in front of Sketchy.

"What happened that night? Why was that guy after you? How did you run so damn fast?"

"That guy holds a grudge really well, and I guess I'm just a fast person."

He didn't seem wholly convinced. "Why did you leave though? Were you in really serious trouble? He left an order that you're to be arrested and handed over to him when we see you. That sounds like more than a grudge to me."

"The trouble was pretty serious, and I guessed he would be keeping tabs on this town so I was forced to leave. Don't take it personally, I missed you guys when I was gone."

"Katie was practically heartbroken when you disappeared. You were the first gal pal she had in a long time. Once you were gone she was just back to me and Jason."

"Oh, the horror."

Mark smiled a little, finally relaxing around her. "I could always call them and have them come over. They'd love to see you again."

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea, seeing as how I'm going to be leaving again right away. I wasn't even planning on seeing you, but I didn't know Sketchy was going to bring me here." She could see he was hurt by that, but she couldn't help it. That was how it was.

"You'll be leaving as soon as you get what you want from Barry, I take it."

"Yeah, something like that. Don't look at me like that, I have a reason I need to get home fast, otherwise I would stick around a little while."

"Something important?"

"Might be life and death." Well, it wasn't really a lie. Lydecker's life was at stake, but she was more worried about losing the information he had rather than losing him.

"Well, do you want to go to the bar and see if we can get him to pay you guys back there?"

"That sounds good."

They had to drag poor Sketchy away from his free beer, he'd already had two while they had been talking. Kay was getting her strength back faster now. Maybe it was being out of the hospital finally, or maybe it was just the fact that she knew she'd have a fight on her hands once she got home. It wasn't going to be easy pulling three healthy X5s off Lydecker when they were really angry.

The bar was exactly as she remembered it: looking like a haunted house from an amusement park. The old shutters on it were banging around it and it looked like it hadn't been repainted in years. If it wasn't for the cars in the parking lot, you'd think it was abandoned. Despite its outward appearance, it was actually quite nice inside. It was easy to spot Barry, he was surrounded by muscle-bound men. Mark was right, they did look tough. Their eyes were what worried her the most, they were strangely red-rimmed. Their necks were thick and the veins stood out clearly, while they stood as though they knew they were strong and wanted everyone else to know it too. _Punks. _Still, they made her nervous. She slipped off the bracelet Ben had given her a few days ago and started toying with it anxiously.

Barry looked relieved when he saw Sketchy coming to him. "Oh hey there, finally want to be paid back, huh?" The muscle-men were staring at Sketchy as though they were sizing him up. Kay really didn't like their eyes. Sketchy nodded nervously, squirming a bit under the critical glares of the other men.

"How do you want to be paid?"

"I just need a ride, that's all. Then you can consider yourself out of my debt."

Barry looked as though he could have kissed Sketchy. Kay had the idea that he was very low on money and couldn't have paid Sketchy in cash if his life depended on it, which it looked like it did with this group.

"Go back to my place and pick out any one you want. Mark knows where I keep all my keys."

As they headed back out, Kay dropped the bracelet from her hand. She leaned down to pick it up, but when she straightened out again she noticed one of the muscle-men was looking at her intently. She returned the gaze, then felt a cold breeze on the back of her neck as Sketchy headed out the door. _My barcode's showing! _Her hair had fallen to the sides when she reached down to pick up the bracelet and now her barcode was completely exposed. She ran a hand back through her hair, causing it to straighten out and cover her barcode again. The damage was already done, but hopefully that guy had been the only one to see it. His eyes never left her as she was walking out the door.

They were just climbing into Sketchy's car when Barry came running out. "Could I have a ride back to my place? Those guys in there gave me the ride here." Sketchy jerked his thumb at the back of the car, indicating the empty spot next to Mark. Kay didn't like the look on Barry's face. He looked way too relieved.

At his house, he surprised them again. After Kay had decided on which car she wanted, he said, "Come in with me to get my keys. I'll get you a drink inside." This was almost too friendly, but it was obvious Sketchy was planning on going in so she followed along. The house wasn't very nicely kept, but she supposed that was normal for a man living on his own. After all, even Ben and Zack's house was a mess, and they were supposed to be soldiers. They apparently decided to ditch that one aspect of military life.

Kay took the keys from Barry's hand as soon as he offered them to her. "If you don't mind, I'll just be goin--" She was cut off because as she turned around to leave, Barry raised the paperweight he'd been holding behind his back and hit her over the head with it. Although it would have been enough to knock a normal human unconscious, it wasn't nearly strong enough for her. Still, she let her body slump to the ground as though it had. She would make Mark and Sketchy suspicious if she was still awake, and it might be the best way to find out what was going on.

"What the hell?" Mark had started to step forward, but Barry pulled a gun out of his jeans and pointed it at the two men.

"You two are going to sit down at the table and be quiet, do you hear me?"

Sketchy and Mark both nodded, still a little stunned by what had just happened. Right after they had lowered themselves into some chairs at the kitchen table, the front door burst open. Kay did her best to see who was there without anyone being able to tell her eyes were open. It didn't shock her too much when the muscle-men from the bar walked in. The two in front seemed to be having an argument.

"Are you positive?"

"Yes, I saw it."

"For your own sake you had better not be lying or seeing things."

"I'm not! I saw it clear as day. She knew I did too."

The one who Kay immediately nicknamed the Skeptic reached down and grabbed her off the floor. Mark almost made the mistake of jumping to his feet.

"What are you doing with her?"

One of the other muscle-men stepped in front of him before he could do anything and he carefully lowered himself back down the couple inches he had risen. The Skeptic smiled condescendingly at him.

"Just checking to see if she is what we think she is."

This time Sketchy piped up. "What do you think she is?"

The Skeptic looked at the back of Kay's neck and smiled again. "Look for yourself." He turned Kay's body so both men could see the barcode. Kay heard Sketchy gasp, this probably wasn't a nice piece of news for him. The Skeptic continued, "I think we'll be going now."

"I think not," Kay growled and slammed her elbow into his face before he could react. The others were already in motion, moving towards her in their lumbering fashion. Kay turned and ran up the wall just behind her, flipping herself over their heads and landing behind them. She grabbed the heads of the two closest to her and slammed their heads together. Amazingly, they didn't fall unconscious. _What the hell are they?_ Kay had to duck the fist of one of them, and it ended up going through the wall. _Are they Familiars? _She shot out her leg and dislocated the knee of the one who had tried to punch her. He jumped back and looked stupidly down at his leg, but didn't seem to be hurt otherwise. Kay bounced back to her feet and lashed out with her left foot and right fist at the same time, hitting men on either side of her. This did little more than delay them. Kay's hits were flying fast and furious, but she didn't seem to be getting anywhere. The only thing she had over them was her speed. _They can't be Familiars, they don't seem to have a fighting style._ They were fighting with their fists and didn't seem remotely interested in using their feet. Being on the clumsy side, the only thing they really had going for them was sheer strength.

As Mark and Sketchy ran back outside, Barry raised his gun, trying to hit Kay. She saw the second his finger started to tighten on the trigger and grabbed the muscle-man closest to her and shoved him in front of her with his back facing Barry. It was too late for Barry to change his mind, he'd already pulled the trigger just as she got herself positioned. The bullet hit the man in the base of the neck. Kay heard the sound of his spine shattering from the force, then saw something hit the ground. It resembled a screw. _Did that just pop out of the guy's neck? _She managed to slip it into her pocket before the Skeptic slammed both fists into her back. Luckily, it didn't break anything, but it knocked the wind out of her. She crashed into the kitchen counter and grabbed a knife out of the sink as one of the others came at her. She whirled around and drove it straight into his chest before he even knew what she had in her hand. She ignored the look of shock on his face and threw herself straight out the patio window.

Kay almost didn't manage to catch herself when she landed. She was still recovering from the fever and although her body had been getting better, it certainly hadn't been ready for that. She felt as though her strength had been drained from her. Body shaking slightly, Kay dashed for the car she had picked out. She still had the keys in her pocket, right along with the screw thing that had popped out of the muscle-man's neck. She just made it out of the driveway when the remaining muscle-men came out of the house. Sketchy's face as she pulled away was almost unrecognizable. He looked furious, probably about the fact that he'd been friends with one of the freaks he'd been trying to expose. Mark just looked stunned, but at least he knew why she had been forced to run away on Halloween.

Kay couldn't bring herself to think about Sketchy as she drove home. She'd have to do all sorts of damage control. Other than making sure Mark and Barry didn't report sighting her to White, she also had to make sure Sketchy didn't put something about her in that tabloid. She wasn't sure if he had a picture of her or not, but he could still give her description. Then there was the matter of the muscle-men with screws in their necks. They weren't transgenics or Familiars, and it seemed that the screw was probably what gave them their strength. Maybe Zack would know, there was always the chance some of the other X5s had gotten into trouble with these people at one point or another.

Kay couldn't help a tiny smile when she saw what was going on at the farm. They had managed to get Lydecker out of the tack room, tied him onto one of the horses, and made the horse run around the pasture while dragging him behind. Buddy was standing back, watching this with a look of disgust on his face. He knew they had to have a good reason for doing this, but he didn't like the fact that they were dragging his horses into it. Kay was thrilled inside, she felt he deserved whatever he got, but he still had important information. She jumped into the pasture before the others even knew she had arrived, then grabbed the terrified horse's halter as he came galloping by. After digging her feet into the ground, he was forced to stop. She reached back and untied the ropes that had been used to fasten Lydecker to the horse, then inspected the damage. She was inwardly delighted to see that most of the skin on his back was a torn and bloody mess. Grabbing him by the hair, she pulled him awkwardly to his feet.

"You're lucky you know stuff, otherwise I would have let that continue." He met her eyes and knew she wasn't lying, her eyes were cold and merciless. Then again, they always looked that way when she saw him.

"Why did you stop? This bastard was getting what he deserved!" Zack snapped as he reached her. Apparently Ben had told him what Lydecker had done to her.

"I need questions answered. Let's start with this." She pulled the screw-like object from her pocket and held it up. "What's this ugly thing?"

Both Lydecker and Zack looked shocked at the sight of it. Lydecker decided to speak first. "I knew someone who was working with some South Africans to make an implant that would create a super soldier as soon as it was put in, calling this soldier a Red Series, or Red for short. It's inserted at the base of the neck and spreads from there to go into the brain. It makes anyone much stronger than even an X5, but that's all it gives, strength. The only downside was that it wore the person's body down so they only lived from about six months to a year once it had been put in, and it can't be removed, just defused. They had an interest in catching an X5 because they believed with transgenic blood they might be able to let the people with the implants live longer. I thought they gave that up a while ago."

"Apparently not," Kay grumbled bitterly, still feeling the dull throbbing in her back where the Skeptic had hit her.

Zack had been listening to Lydecker's explanation without interrupting, but now spoke up. "I had to get these people away from Zane and Syl, and Max told me later that she actually has a defused implant in her from her last meeting with them."

This made sense to Kay, but the news that Max had an implant in her came as a shock. "Okay, for another question, is my DNA any different than the other X5s? Max has no junk DNA, but I'm stronger than her."

Lydecker thought for a moment, then hesitantly started. "Your DNA _is_ different, but I don't know exactly how. Sandeman had a special scientist work on you, just like he had one work on Max. There was a difference with that though. He had a purpose for Max, while I think you were more of an experiment than anything else. You're the only one he did this with that survived, and it makes you the only one with your kind of DNA. You still have feline in you, but he added something else which made you separate from the others. The advantages to your DNA was that you were stronger, faster, and more agile than the other X5s, and you also fixed your own seizures. I don't know how your body healed the serotonin deficiency, but it did. Your seizures stopped at a relatively young age. The disadvantage of your DNA is that it meant the method we used to stop the heat cycles of the other X5s wouldn't work on you." He stopped after the mention of her heat cycles because Zack looked ready to kill him all over again.

Kay had had enough of talking to him. She nodded her thanks and walked away, knowing fully well that the others would probably start back up where they left off when she got here. Brin came running after her as she headed towards her house.

"Be quiet when you go in. The kid's sleeping."

"What kid?"

Kay's question was answered for her when she opened the door of her house. Laying on the couch was a little boy who she didn't recognize, but sitting next to him was a woman Kay had only met once, Wendy's sister, Julie. That made it fairly easy to guess who the little boy laying on the couch was.

Not even a minute later, Kay was listening to Logan's phone ring on the other end of the line.

"He--"

"Why the hell is Ray White here? Why didn't you tell me?"

There was nothing but silence for a moment. "You're back home? I didn't know you were released from the hospital."

"I left on my own. Why didn't you tell me about Ray?"

"I was going to tell you when you got released, no one was expecting you to just take off."

"Why do you keep sending me people like this? I know you didn't know I was here when you sent Zack up, but you've sent me Wendy and now her son and sister? You already know about Ben, Brin, and Lydecker, so I'm pretty much running a fugitive circus up here! Wasn't there anyplace else for him?"

"I figured they'd be safer with you. It was Ben who suggested it in the first place when he was staying with me. What do you have against him?"

"He's the reason Wendy died. If she hadn't been trying to save him, she'd still be alive right now. Not to mention that he could try to contact his father at any time and rat out everyone living here. He could even tell White who you are."

"Ray doesn't know I'm Eyes Only. Even Wendy thought I only worked for him. Just give the kid a chance. As Max said when we got him, his mother's dead, his dad's a freak, it's not really a fairy tale ending."

"I'll give him a chance, but if he so much as says 'Daddy', I'm shipping him outta here."

"Fine, but I don't think you'll have problems."

"Yeah right."

Once she was off the phone, Kay's eyes landed back on Ray. The kid was the perfect mix of his parents. He had his father's overall face, but his hair and probably his eyes were like his mother's. Well, at least things couldn't get worse.


	17. No News Is Good News

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Outside

By Be Boring

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Chapter 17: No News Is Good News

Kay felt the warmth all around her and smiled to herself. This was one of the few times she had smiled in the last few days, and every time she smiled it was the same time of day. The sun was just coming up and light was starting to filter through the window next to the bed. It was completely quiet outside except for birds and the occasional snort of a horse. There were no doors being slammed, no vehicles starting up and squealing out of the driveway, and no fights breaking out. That was what she had lived with ever since she came back. It seemed as though no one could get along. When there wasn't people screaming at each other, there was a very awkward silence; if that broke then chaos would break out again. Julie tended to keep Ray as far away from the X5s as possible, she didn't fully trust them. That was fine with Kay, every time she saw the boy she felt cautious, because at any moment he could try and contact his father and everyone here would be up to their necks in hot water. Buddy and Mary rarely invited her over for supper anymore, the others would come and the fighting would start. Lydecker didn't show his face outside, he lived in Buddy and Mary's basement. Zack and Ben had stopped getting along ever since Kay asked them to leave Lydecker alone. He was an asset to them and they needed him alive. The only problem was that while Zack finally gave in and agreed to steer clear of him, Ben refused to give it up. It was probably because their relationship was so close and he felt the need to protect her, but that was laughable because Kay certainly didn't need his help in staying safe.

At the moment, Kay was laying comfortably in Ben's arms and watching the sun rise. She usually woke up this early, she didn't need a whole lot of sleep. She listened to his steady breathing in her ear and enjoyed feeling this close to him. She felt as though she could enjoy this more now that she didn't have to run from the Familiars. Even though Ray was here, he hadn't once shown interest in leaving. He was close to his Aunt Julie and was always sneaking out to the barns to play with the baby horses. Kay had expected him to be hard and emotionless like the other Familiars had been, but that apparently hadn't been burned into him yet. If you didn't think about his parentage, then he was by all rights a normal little boy.

Ben stirred a little in his sleep and tightened his grip around her. She settled back into it easily, wishing she didn't have to get up and face the day. Still, she had work to do and people to see. Even though things were uncomfortable around most people on the farm, Brin had become a good friend to her. She had been hurt more than anyone by Wendy's death and Kay decided to be there for her, especially since she had been the main factor in saving Kay's life. Her emotions were starting to show more often now, and it wasn't uncommon anymore to see her smile, laugh at a joke, or even try and help someone out just for the hell of it.

"Kay, are you awake?" Ben's muffled voice came from her hair

"No. I've just become talented at answering people in my sleep."

He pinched her ribs teasingly, then propped himself up on his elbow to look at the clock. He groaned a little at the time, then rolled off the bed on the other side to head for the shower. Kay lay on her back and listened to the water starting up, then stood up and walked to the bathroom. His back was to her as he stepped into the shower stall, so she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his stomach from behind. He gave her hands an appreciative squeeze and she knew he was smiling, but then he reached forward and twisted the temperature knob. Kay gasped loudly as the hot water changed quickly to cold and she jumped away from him. He turned to grin at her and wiggled a finger in her face.

"We have to get going, and it won't speed things up if you're in here with me."

Kay pouted a bit but knew he was right. "Fine, I'll go make breakfast." She toweled off the cold water and grabbed her robe so she could walk into the kitchen without anyone seeing what they shouldn't. The three bedrooms in this house were full; Julie in one, Ray in another, and Ben and Kay in the main one. Brin had moved into Ben's empty room in Zack's house because she complained they kept her up all night with her sensitive hearing. That was okay because it meant Ray got his own room. He and his aunt slept dead to the world, so it wouldn't matter what Kay and Ben were doing.

The kitchen and living room were empty, but Kay knew that wouldn't last long. Julie would come as soon as she smelled food, and Ben's showers were never that long, so soon everyone would be eating. Ray was the only one who slept in late. Kay spotted Brin walking out of her and Zack's house, so she stepped out the door and waved to her. Brin made her way over looking as though she'd never been happier to see anyone else.

"What's got you up so early?" Kay asked curiously. Brin was another person who could sleep the day away.

"I had some bad dreams, that's all."

"What were they about?"

"Manticore."

That was all she needed to say. Kay knew Brin deeply regretted her time back at Manticore. She held herself responsible for Tinga's death because she was close enough to the situation to stop it if she had really wanted to.

"Tinga again?"

"Yeah."

"Want to help me make breakfast?"

Brin's eyes lit up. One thing Kay had found out about her sister was that she had become an excellent cook in her younger years out of Manticore. That was one of Brin's complaints about living with Zack. According to her, he probably didn't even know how to make pancakes. That always made Kay wonder about how he managed to take care of himself for so long. He probably went out to fast food places all the time.

Kay stood back and let Brin do her stuff. There was no point trying to help, she'd just be in the way. Kay went and sat down in the living room, curling her legs beneath her on the couch. Despite all its down comings, this place was home and she could probably never feel as safe anywhere else. There was something so relaxing about listening to Brin make breakfast and hearing the water running as Ben showered.

Kay was snapped out of her little daze when she realized Ray had come out of his room and was standing about two feet to her left. He was looking at her curiously, Julie never let him talk to the X5s and he usually wasn't up before her to give it a try.

"What are you doing up?"

His blue eyes wandered over her face as if to see if she was growing another head. Julie had apparently passed on some of what she thought about transgenics to him. "I couldn't sleep."

"Bad dreams?"

He shook his head, his strange blue eyes never leaving hers. "I rolled over in my sleep and knocked my mom's perfume off the table next to the bed. The room smells like her now."

Kay felt a slight pang of sympathy for him, he obviously missed his mother. "Well, I'll help you get that cleaned up."

Ray stepped back as Kay got up off the couch and walked into his bedroom. The air smelled like Wendy, all right. Seeing the puddle of perfume on the floor, Kay went to the kitchen and got a handful of paper towels. Even once she managed to get the puddle dried up, the scent wasn't gone. Kay got more paper towels, made sure they were wet, and tried to get the smell out. It still wasn't completely gone when she was done, but it was several times better.

Ray was sitting where she had been on the couch earlier, watching her while she worked. When she finished, he walked in and sniffed the air, then nodded in satisfaction. He even smiled a little bit at her. Kay smiled back, then took his hand and led him to the kitchen table where Brin was finally setting down the food. His tiny eyes nearly popped out of his head when he smelled it, it smelled delicious. Brin grinned down at him.

"That's what most people do when I cook for them."

Kay laughed at her. "And I see it hasn't gone to your head at all."

Brin's face was filled with pure innocence. "Of course it hasn't."

Both women laughed, then started setting dishes down on the table. Soon enough, Julie came out of her room at the smell of food. She looked stunned to see Ray sitting at the table already, laughing as the two X5s joked with each other.

"Some say I'm a regular Emeril!"

"Who's that?"

Brin laughed so hard she had to set the plates in her hands down to keep from dropping them. Kay was completely perplexed as she stared at her.

"No, really. Who is he?"

Brin finally managed to get enough air in her lungs to explain. "He was a famous chef before the Pulse."

"Who was?" Ben's voice added to the laughter of the women. His hair was still wet and he was wearing jeans and a white tank top. Kay couldn't help but gaze at him in wonder, but had to stop when Brin smacked her lightly in the back of the head.

"Get your head out of the gutter, girl."

Kay blushed, then lost all control when Ray asked "How did she get her head in the gutter? I don't see one."

All the adults were hysterical now, even Julie. That morning was one of the best Kay had ever had, and she wished feverishly that it didn't have to end. Despite all her wishes, the day came on and everyone fell into their normal routine. Zack and Ben did most of the physical work of chopping wood and fixing parts of the fence, while Kay and Brin worked with the horses, today with Ray looking on. He had begged Julie to let him watch, so she had finally given in and ran to town for errands so he could watch in peace. He was enjoying himself immensely, he loved the horses.

One of the younger horses that Kay was working on nearly ran through the part of the fence that Ben and Zack were currently working on. Kay managed to get him to turn before he went through, but it was close. Both men had jumped back to get out of the way, and now Zack had his arms crossed over his chest as he eyed the horse cautiously.

"I remember what happened the last time you rode a nervous horse like that."

"Relax, I plan on keeping my arm intact, thank you very much. Besides, that last one wasn't nervous, she was just all out stupid."

"Oh, well that will make me feel better now, won't it?"

Brin rolled her eyes as she trotted her horse over. "Give me some pliers so I can yank that stick out of your ass!"

Both women galloped away as fast as they could. The look on Zack's face was priceless. Kay doubted many other X5s had ever talked to him like that, other than Max. Brin looked rather pleased with herself though, she hadn't thought she had it in her.

When they brought out the next couple horses to ride, Kay was bored. Usually they were working on young horses to keep them remembering how to ride, but they also had to ride the older horses so they could get some exercise. That was usually called 'loafing' just because there was no challenge to it. The older ones could do everything in their sleep. Kay and Brin were bringing out a couple of 'loafers' right now, Gramps and an old mare named Rose. Brin could see the look on Kay's face.

"Want to go for a trail ride with these two just for a change of scenery?"

"Oh God yes." Kay couldn't have been more relieved at the suggestion. That would at least be a bit more interesting.

The trails were a little hard this morning since it was so cold right now, but it was nothing the horses couldn't handle. Brin was right, the change of scenery was nice. They made small talk along the way just for an occasional break in the silence, but otherwise just kept their mouths shut and enjoyed the ride. It wasn't until they reached a long, flat stretch of land that they broke out of the quiet routine.

"Want to see which one of these old farts can make it to the other side of the field the fastest?" Brin's devilish look was something Kay hadn't seen before. She found herself grinning back.

"Alright, but I'm telling you Rose is going to run poor old Gramps into the ground."

Brin reached down and patted Gramps' neck. "Oh, I think he'll do just fine. This old boy has more in him than you give him credit for."

They lined the two horses up and Brin held out her fingers to count. Three...two...one! Both of them took off, Rose easily taking the lead. The girls couldn't help but laugh, these two running looked pretty damn funny. Kay was surprised they had even gotten them to run through here, the grass was probably up to her hip. Suddenly, she heard Brin cry out in surprise. When she turned her head to look, Gramps was climbing back to his feet and Brin was nowhere in sight.

"Brin?"

"Down here," Brin grumbled from her new position on the ground. It was almost impossible to see her through the grass.

"What happened?"

"I think he tripped over something."

Kay jumped off Rose's back and walked over to where Gramps was standing. His reins were all tangled up with his legs so he was forced to stay where he was. Kay guessed he couldn't be standing all that far from where he had fallen. She walked around in little circles until her foot bumped sharply into something cold and hard. With all the flies buzzing around, Kay couldn't believe she hadn't found it right away.

"I thing there's something dead here," Kay said, shooing flies away with her hand.

"Really?" Brin climbed to her feet and walked over. "What is it?"

"I can't tell. I can't see it through the grass and the flies."

Kay crouched down and pushed the grass aside with her arm. When her eyes landed on what was on the ground, she gasped out loud and fell back onto her butt.

"What do you see?" Brin asked impatiently, leaning down to make it out. Her eyes widened when she saw it. "Isn't that the guy who was with White last time?"

Kay nodded, still trying to slow her heart down. It wasn't like she'd never seen a dead body, she just wasn't expecting to see one right now. Greg's face was still recognizable through the piles of flies on his face, and it was obvious what had killed him. His face was pointed up at Brin and Kay, but his body was laying on its stomach.

"Would one of the Familiars have done this?"

Kay shook her head. The Familiars were cruel, but they wouldn't kill one of their own. "I'll bet anything it was the Reds. He probably got in their way."

"Why wouldn't they take him? Transgenic blood and Familiar blood is different, but I'll bet their blood would keep the Reds alive longer just as easily as ours would."

"Maybe they didn't know what he was. A lot of people don't know about the cult, I doubt the Reds do either."

"Let's tie the horses up."

"What? Why?"

"This guy's body is awfully close to the farm, we need to know where they are. I see no better time than the present to find out."

Kay was speechless, but she could see Brin's point. It wasn't going to do them any good to wait. Soon both horses were tied to trees at the edge of the field and the two X5s were moving on foot back to Greg's body. Kay was the first one on the ground, searching for clues as to which direction the Reds had gone.

"Okay, that mark there must have been made by Gramps when he fell, I came over from that way so we know that's not the path. You were right there...this must be where they came from." There were some blades of grass pushed to the side to their right. It had been windy lately, so the path wasn't as clear as it could have been, but it was still good enough to follow. It was Brin who grabbed Kay's arm a minute later to point something out.

"There's blood on this tree. I think that guy might have been running from them." Sure enough, there was a red tint to the branch of a tree that was hanging in the path. Most likely Greg hadn't been paying much attention to where he was going and it scratched him as he passed.

"Why would he have been running from them? The Familiars seem to have a habit of thinking they're unstoppable, I have a hard time picturing one of them running from a group of muscle-bound idiots."

"He might have found out how strong they are."

"That just doesn't explain enough. How would he have crossed paths with them in the first place?"

Brin didn't have an answer for that. It wasn't too long before there were definite signs of a struggle. Every now and then they'd pass patches of grass that had been smashed flat against the ground, sometimes even with some blood in the area. It almost made Kay laugh to think of how Manticore would have punished them for leaving such an obvious trail and not covering their tracks better. Finally, they reached what looked like a shed in the middle of some brush. It would have been nearly impossible to see by the normal eye, but it was easily seen by Brin and Kay. Kay moved to the edge of it and pressed her ear against the cold tin.

"He didn't give us the information we needed. Are there any others like him in the area?"

"Not that we've seen."

"Damn purebloods. They can hide themselves too easily. Don't they have any defining marks?"

"They have a Caduceus burned into their left forearm, but that's not all that easy to check for except for the more careful ones might avoid wearing short sleeves."

"That doesn't exactly narrow it down. I want to know where the key to the Coming is, and I want to know as soon as possible."

Kay pulled her ear away from the shed and looked at Brin in shock. She signaled for them to get away from here so they could talk. Brin nodded and followed her back to the field where the horses were.

"What did they say?"

"Well, they know about the Familiars. They call them purebloods. They want to know about the Coming."

"What is it?"

"I don't know, that's something Max has been trying to find out. All she says she knows for sure is that it's bad news for normal people. The Reds must have something to gain from it or they wouldn't be trying to find out where the key to it is."

"Does that mean they already know what it is?"

"Probably."

"What do they mean about the key?"

"I think they mean it figuratively, not as a real key in the most literal sense. What it is though, I have no idea and I have the feeling I don't want to know."

* * *

Ben saw the look on her face when she came in that night. "What's wrong?" 

Kay fell onto the couch and leaned against him. "Just more trouble that no one asked for."

"Want to talk about it?"

Kay smiled up at him. "Not really."

He returned her smile and looked questioningly at the bedroom, then back at her. His eyes were lit up in a way that made his face really come alive and Kay loved to see it.

"Are you hinting about something?" she teased good-naturedly.

"Who, me?" He stood up and picked her up in one easy move. Brin popped her head into the door just as Ben shut the door to the bedroom. She grinned ruefully at the closed door.

"She sure has no problems getting over bad news."


	18. The 'Perfect' Day

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Outside

By Be Boring

****

Chapter 18: The "Perfect" Day

The next few days seemed to go by all too slowly. Kay had been working almost nonstop just to keep herself busy during the day and spent most of her free time trying to figure out what the Reds meant by the key and what could they possibly want with it. She knew they couldn't mean a regular key, that was just too easy. Why would the Coming be in a locked up place? The Familiars wouldn't need to wait for it then, would they? The only thing she could think of was the snakes they used in their rituals. Were those snakes an important factor in the Coming?

Right now Kay was trying to figure everything out over supper with Brin. Ben and Zack had made a run into town and Ray had fallen asleep because of how much he'd been running around all day. Julie was eating with Buddy and Mary over in the main house, which left Kay and Brin to eat alone.

"Did you ever think the key might be a person?"

Kay's eyes snapped up from her plate at those words. "What made you think of that?"

Brin shrugged. "I don't know. You mentioned the snakes before because they have so much to do with Familiar ceremonies, but why couldn't the key be one of the Familiars? I don't really have any logic or anything like that to back it up, but then again none of this is really logical, is it?"

"No, I guess not. You might be right about one of the Familiars being the key, but how could they be used for the Coming? I always figured that the key would be the thing that starts the Coming, but how could a person do that?"

"Beats me. This stuff is a little strange if you ask me. Manticore certainly never prepared us to deal with a breeding cult that produces super humans. They probably didn't even know about it."

"I'm not so sure about that. What if Manticore was meant as a way of catching up to the evolution of the Familiars? I mean, this cult has been around thousands of years and Manticore made beings as strong as them in just a few decades. The way I figure it, this Sandeman guy knew about the cult and maybe knew about the Coming as well, so we were a way of protecting people. After all, we were made as protection for America. Maybe this was what we were meant to protect it from."

"Then why the missions? None of our missions have dealt with Familiars, just regular people. If we were made to protect America from the cult, then why did we never fight with them?"

"You have to remember, Sandeman left quite a few years ago and even Lydecker wasn't told about the cult. I don't think any of the other people associated with Manticore knew about the Familiars, they just used us for their own purposes. When Sandeman left, they just continued since they didn't know any better. Probably the only person who knew the true reasons behind the making of Manticore was Renfro. She knew that Max was the one Sandeman was looking for, so we have to assume she knew everything."

Brin sat back and set down her fork, leaving the rest of her food untouched. "That certainly explains a lot. What does Max have to do with all of this? She's not the key, is she?"

Kay shook her head quickly. "No, Sandeman seemed to want to stop the Coming. Why would he make the thing that starts it? You were right before, the key is probably part of the cult. Maybe Max is another sort of key though. If there's a way to start the Coming, maybe Sandeman made a way to stop it. It would be my guess that Max is what will stop it."

Brin crossed her arms over her chest and bit down gently on her lower lip. "Poor little sister. The only thing she ever wanted was a normal life, and she's about as far from that as she's ever gonna get."

Kay reached over the table and gave Brin's arm a pat. "I'm sure she'll get the normal life she's always wanted as soon as this is all over."

A different and slightly groggy voice startled them both. "As soon as what's all over?"

Both women looked over to see Ray standing next to the table, rubbing his eyes and staring blearily at them. Kay didn't know what to say to him, but figured the truth was as good as anything. "The Coming."

"Is it gonna happen soon?"

"Why, are you scared?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm safe from it."

Brin and Kay looked at each other nervously. Kay hated being reminded that the sweet little boy was part of those people. "Want anything to eat?"

Those seemed to be the magic words. Ray's eyes lit up and he immediately sat down at his spot at the table. The second Brin set down a clean plate in front of him, he filled it up with the food that was on the table. Any thought of the Coming was pushed out of his head as he started to eat. Kay turned her head towards the window as she heard Zack's truck pull in. She needed to be with Ben right now. With all the thoughts of what was going on, the only time she enjoyed herself was when she was with him. It wasn't just sleeping with him, as some people tended to think, it was being around him in general. She liked eating with him, talking to him, taking walks out in the woods with him, and even arguing with him. Just his presence seemed to make everything alright. His smile when he walked through the door brightened her up instantaneously.

"What have you girls been talking about while I've been away?"

"Nothing interesting. Can we go for a walk?"

Ben looked a little surprised, but he nodded. As soon as they were in the woods and out of the sight of everyone else, he put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead.

"I know you were talking about something big. Something to do with the Reds and that key thing?"

"We were just throwing out theories, nothing concrete."

"With the kid right there?"

"Well, he had just come out when you got there. Let's talk about something else."

"Okay, how would you feel about some time away from everything?"

"What do you mean?"

Ben stopped walking and turned to face her, the sweet, gentle smile that Kay had grown to love on his face. "I mean taking a little vacation away from here. Before you start to fight me about this, we're not going to be missed that much. Brin can handle the horses, Julie will be watching Ray, and Zack has already agreed to take over some of my work for a couple days. We could go anywhere you want, as long as it's a good ways away from here. What do you think about that?"

Kay struggled to come up with an excuse, but couldn't. Ben was right, everything would be just fine without them for a couple days, and she desperately needed a vacation. "Fine, but can I bring along my cellph--"

"No," he cut her off. "A vacation will also mean no contact with the farm, got it?"

"Yeah," Kay grumbled. She didn't know why she sounded so upset, some time away would do her a world of good. She was even getting excited about the prospect of not having anything to do or worry about for a little while. Ben grinned down at her.

"Good. Where do you want to go? We can go pretty much anywhere since you made a few changes." He touched her hair and gently pulled it behind her shoulders. Kay had dyed her hair deep auburn and cut it so that it was about four inches below her barcode, then got a perm. Just the change in hair had made a drastic change in her appearance. Brin couldn't stop gawking at her after she had it done, saying that she wished she could look like that with just a little hair touch-up. Ben had called her a model and even Zack had given her an appreciative glance. When she had explained what she'd done over the phone to Max, Max had laughingly told her that perms were the best thing for a girl, that was what she had had before she got caught by Manticore. Alec had teased her about becoming too girly, then their conversation had become more serious. He wanted to know when Ben was going to reveal himself to Max because he had just found out the whole story a few days ago from Max and knew how much it was tearing her up inside.

"Maybe we should go see Max together."

Ben's eyes lit up. He had missed Max and hated her blaming herself for his death when he was alive and had asked her to kill him anyways. "Yeah, that sounds good."

"Well then, it's a plan. Almost sounds like a perfect day."

They walked in silence for at least an hour, then came home to pack. Tomorrow would be a big day.

* * *

Seattle had never looked like such a happy place. Ben and Kay were just driving into town and were headed for Logan's. Max would most likely be there, and maybe Logan would let them stay for a while. She had never felt such a letdown when they reached Logan's apartment and he wasn't there. 

"Dammit, where did he go now? He's never here when I want him to be!"

Ben reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. "He probably just went out for a little while. I'm sure he'll be back soon. When I stayed here before he didn't seem like the type of guy to just take off without letting anyone know."

Kay muttered every curse she could think of under her breath, then ran a hand through her hair."You're right, he'll be back soon. I just want this day to go perfectly."

He placed his arms around her and smiled down at her. "It will, it's just a little delayed."

An hour later, Kay was ready to burst. She hated having to wait for anything and this was important to her. She wanted to be able to bring something more than trouble into her sister's life. She finally got up from where she had been sitting by Ben on the couch and grabbed the phone. She knew Alec's number, maybe he could tell her where everyone was.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Kay. Do you know where Logan and Max are?"

"Nice to hear from you too. They're both here with me, in a manner of speaking."

"What?"

"Well, we're all in the same general area. I'm next to Logan right now, and Max is in the sewers looking for Joshua."

"Why is she looking for him there?"

"It's a mess over here. Joshua started liking this blind girl called Annie, and he ran into the sewers with her earlier because he was being chased by some kids. If you turned on the TV, you'd see what I'm talking about. There's police and feds running all over the place here."

"What about White? I'm sure he's shown up by now."

"Actually, that's what worries me. He was here earlier, but some police in the sewers reported being attacked by a girl and since then he's disappeared."

"He knows she's down there and he's looking for her."

"What makes you say that?"

"That's just the way he operates. Do you think there's a chance they'll get out of there without getting caught?"

"If there is a chance, it's very slim. I really don't see it happening, but I'll help if I can."

"I'm coming right now."

"What? Where are you?"

"Logan's apartment, waiting for him and Max. Like I said, I'm coming."

Kay hung up the phone before Alec could ask any more questions and turned to Ben. "Let's go."

It wasn't hard to find where they were, people were running around everywhere. Kay spotted Logan's Aztec with Alec standing next to it, then spotted something she wasn't so happy to see. The Skeptic was walking through the crowd, headed out of it. Looking around, Kay noticed the other Reds headed in the same direction. Kay nudged Ben in the side and followed them. Ben didn't really know who she was going after since he had never seen the Reds, but he trusted her anyways.

The Reds came to a stop at a bridge where there was an entrance to the sewers. When Kay looked at where the entrance was, she noticed the people guarding it had already been knocked out. It must have been where White went in. When the Reds went in, Ben grabbed Kay's arm to stop her from following.

"Who are those people and why are we following them?"

"They're the people with the implants in their heads that I told you about, and we're following them because they're probably trying to get to Max."

"Why?"

"I don't know, but they've gone after her before. That was a different group of course, but this group might want her too."

Ben was quiet now and even led the way into the sewers. Once they moved far enough in that the light from the open door could no longer be seen, Kay heard someone groan as they approached. Just as they met coming around a corner, Ben threw up an elbow to hit their visitor in the face. As the body slumped to ground, Kay studied the face.

"Sketchy, you idiot," she grumbled. (A/N: Sorry, couldn't resist!)

They moved on through the sewers, trying to catch up. Finally they could hear the Reds further ahead, it would be easy to follow them with how loud they were. Kay was surprised when she heard the last fragment of the Skeptic's sentence.

"...get the information we need."

Kay looked at Ben questioningly, but he just shrugged back. What information could these guys possibly need from Max? They were no longer talking, so Ben and Kay had to be even more careful to stay quiet. The minutes seemed to stretch into hours, and it started to feel like time had stopped. Since there was no light in the sewers, it was impossible to tell time. For all they knew, they could have been in there for days and not known it. Kay was nearly about to fall over from boredom when Ben threw an arm in front of her to stop her from walking forward. She froze instantly and listened for what had caused him to want to stop. Up ahead they could hear a woman's voice.

"Hello? Is somebody there? Hello? Hello?"

The Reds had stopped at the sound of her voice and hadn't moved from their spot at the junction up ahead. Since Ben and Kay had stopped, what were those footsteps she could hear? Kay ducked under Ben's arm and moved forward towards the Reds. Their eyes were focused on something in front of them and they didn't even notice her approach. Kay positioned herself so she could see between their heads to what they were looking at. There was a young black woman standing at a corner of the junction, clutching to the wall and not seeming to notice the three men and one woman standing in front of her. Taking a closer look at the woman's eyes, Kay realized she couldn't see anything. _That must be the blind girl, Annie, that Alec was talking about._ Kay could still hear the footsteps coming towards the junction. They weren't coming from straight ahead, but from the corridor on the left. There was too much steam to see anything clearly, but she could see the shape of someone starting to form as they got closer. The Reds backed up so they wouldn't be seen by the newcomer, and Kay leapt up and grabbed the large pipes on the ceiling and pulled herself up. She slid silently so she was over Annie, then watched quietly.

Ames White walked out of the cloud of steam and stood in front of Annie. "Don't worry, miss. It's all over."

He meant that all too literally. Kay watched as Annie smiled in relief, then had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from crying out in shock as he reached out with both hands and twisted Annie's head around. He did it fast, but not fast enough to stop Annie's scream of horror. Kay was stunned as White turned and walked away as if he had done nothing more horrible than step on a bug. Kay was shaking with fury and was about to jump down and run after him when the Reds started moving forward. White had already moved out of sight and it looked as though they were going to follow him. The Skeptic spoke so softly that Kay had to lean down to hear him.

"When we get him, take him out the way we came. He'll tell us what we need to know."

Kay's eyes widened as she realized how stupid she had been. They had killed Greg because he didn't tell them what they wanted to know about the Coming. Why had she assumed they wanted Max when she had known all along that White was down here too? She mentally counted to ten and dropped down onto the shoulders of the closest man. She grabbed his mouth before he could alert the others and snapped his neck in one swift moment. The others turned around at the sound but Ben slammed his fist into the back of the other unknown Red. He lurched forward but managed to stay on his feet until Kay grabbed his head in both hands and twisted sharply. His body fell limply to the floor and Kay turned to face the Skeptic.

"Do you really want to face two pissed-off X5s on your own? That wouldn't be wise."

The Skeptic eyed them both, then reached down and picked up his companions' bodies. Ben raised an eyebrow at this.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm removing their bodies so the technology in them won't be found. Just let me pass, I have no business with either of you and no interest in fighting you. You don't need to waste your time with me."

"Damn right," Kay growled as she stepped off to the side to let him through, then paused for a moment. "Why did you attack me before if you have no business with me?"

He turned to look at her in surprise, then recognized her after another good look. "We were led to believe something that isn't true. We found out otherwise after our encounter with you."

Now Kay was completely confused, but at least he wasn't looking to kill her. She'd find out later what he meant. After he disappeared around the corner, Ben spoke up.

"Want to go find Max?"

Kay shrugged and turned to him to get her mind off the confusion of what had just happened. "I guess. Let's stop by Logan's first."

He nodded as they headed back in the direction they came. As soon as they reached the main street, they were stunned by the amount of people still running around. Kay noticed the ambulance right away, then stopped so she could hear the reporter closest to her.

"We're here to bring you breaking news in this shocking development. Police have now confirmed that the cause of death was a snapped neck. Witnesses say it would have taken someone with superhuman strength to account for the state in which the body was found. Once again, a tragic ending to tonight's events: the kidnapped girl, Annie Fisher, was found dead at the scene just a few moments ago, murdered by her abductor, who remains at large."

Kay walked away before she could hear anymore. "They're talking about Joshua. They think he killed Annie!" She looked across the street and saw White standing there, watching the reporter who was talking. Kay could have killed him right now for what he had done. He had actually ruined the life of one of the most innocent people she had ever met. Joshua wouldn't be the same after this, he was too sensitive. She jumped when she felt Ben touch her back.

"I think we should go now. This probably isn't the best time to go see Max."

Kay nodded, feeling horribly numb. So much for the perfect day.


	19. Story Time

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Outside

By Be Boring

****

Chapter 19: Storytime

"Kay! Some doctor guy wants to see you! Wake up!" Brin grabbed Kay's shoulders and shook hard. Kay groaned and rolled over, pulling her blankets up over her head. It was too early in the morning to be bothered like this. "Get up!"

Kay finally threw the blankets back and sat up. Ben was next to her, trying to keep the blankets around his waist so Brin wouldn't see anything. Brin was standing next to the bed, hands now on her hips as she stared down at her sister.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get out of bed!"

"What doctor guy is here to see me?"

"I think he said his name is Dr. Carr."

Kay finally woke all the way up at this. Why would Sam Carr be here? She waved Brin off with her hand and a grumbled "Shut up, I'm coming!", then climbed out of bed and grabbed the first outfit she could out of the dresser. Ben had already laid back down and had fallen asleep again. Kay rolled her eyes at him as she headed for the door, then peered out into the driveway. There was a nice car out there with Dr. Carr in the driver's seat. She couldn't imagine what he'd be doing here. He looked relieved to see her when she came out of the house.

"Kay! How are you feeling? Got over the fever well enough?"

Kay shrugged. "I suppose, I'm feeling okay. What are you doing here? I'm fairly sure it's not to check up on my health."

Dr. Carr stepped out of the car and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, actually, someone who looks a lot like Max threatened me and I had no choice but to leave Seattle."

"What do you mean, someone who looks a lot like Max?"

"She was identical to her, except she didn't have the bullet wound in her side that Max did. She was trying to get her hands on Max's file, but Max asked me to burn that a long time ago. As soon as I figured out she wasn't Max, she slammed me into a wall and told me that certain people knew who I was and that I should leave as soon as possible. What was that about?"

Kay thought for a moment, then came up with a somewhat reasonable explanation. "Well, that was obviously a clone, and don't look at me like I'm nuts! Manticore made clones of all the X5s except for me because I was the only one who survived with my type of DNA. The feds probably came across the clone when they were looking for Max and used her to get any information on Max that they could, which should have been easy considering her looks. You were probably ready to hand over Max's file right away if it had been there, right?"

Dr. Carr blushed and nodded. "I knew something was different, but I never knew Manticore made clones."

"Did you give away any information about Max by accident?"

"I-I don't think so. Wait! I mentioned Jam Pony. Would that have been enough for her to go on?"

"Hell yeah. It wouldn't even take someone from Manticore to figure out how to get to Max through that. How long ago was this confrontation between you and the clone?"

"At least six hours ago. She knocked me out after threatening me and I woke up an hour later. Then I went home, packed my things, and headed for where I knew you were."

Kay turned towards her house and started running. Chances were that the clone had already reached Max, but there might still be a chance that she didn't. As soon as she got to the phone, she was dialing the number for Max's apartment.

"Hello?"

"Cindy?"

"Yeah, who am I talkin' to?"

"Kay. Is Max there?"

There was a long silence on the other end of the line and Kay had to ask if she was still there before she got an answer. "She left a while ago, said she's leavin' town. She wouldn't tell me where she's goin' to. Is somethin' big goin' down?"

"Nothing too big. Talk to ya later."

Kay tried not to slam the phone down. Maybe Max got out of there before the clone could get to her. Then again, maybe not. She dialed Logan's number, but he didn't answer. _Why is that guy never there when I call?_ In desperation she called Alec's number, but he didn't answer either. Kay kept trying to tell herself that Max had gotten out of there, but her instinct was telling her otherwise. She finally walked back out to Dr. Carr.

"What are you planning to do now that you can't go back to Seattle?"

"Are there any hospitals around here that I could try to find work at?"

"This is pretty much a small town area, so I don't know of any, but you could always ask Buddy and Mary. They live right over there." Kay pointed in the direction of the main house. He nodded and walked towards it. Kay walked back to her house and headed for the shower. As long as she was up, there was no point in going back to sleep. Ben was still asleep when she walked past the bed, looking so peaceful that she wished he never had to wake up.

When she got back out, Ben was no longer in bed. She walked into the kitchen and straight into the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life. Ben and Zack were standing by the stove, trying to put out the fire on top of it with the flexible faucet from the sink. It really didn't come out that far, so while Ben held the faucet Zack tried to stomp out the fire with a not-yet-used pot. Ray was sitting on the counter, watching this scene while giggling so hard that tears were running down his face. Kay struggled to keep a straight face and crossed her arms in front of her.

"What is going on here?"

Both Ben and Zack were so shocked to see her that they dropped what they were holding, sending the pot crashing to the floor and causing the faucet to spray water over the rest of the kitchen cupboards and the floor as it dangled from the edge of the sink. Ray toppled over and nearly fell off the counter he was laughing so hard. He was the only one to try and answer her question. "B-B-Ben tried to m-make b-b-breakfast and h-he turned on the w-wrong b-burner and the n-newspaper c-caught on f-fire." He couldn't keep going after this as Ben and Zack both blushed and stared at the floor. Kay couldn't keep her straight face anymore and burst out laughing.

"I guess this is what happens when I let you two cook!" While she was laughing, Kay reached out and shut off the running water, turned off the stove, then grabbed the almost completely burned up newspaper and tossed it into the sink. She then grabbed the faucet, put it back in its spot, and turned it back on to put out the rest of the fire. "See? That wasn't so hard."

At the embarrassed looks on both men's faces, Kay started laughing all over again. The poor guys were never prepared for cooking in their training as kids. Zack picked up the pot and set it back on the stove, blushing the whole time.

"Could you make breakfast? Please? I don't really want to try again." Ben nodded his agreement fervently. Kay grinned, hearing Zack say 'please' was a whole new experience.

"Well, since you asked so nicely."

It wasn't until after breakfast that things started to get interesting. Kay went over to the main house to see if Dr. Carr was still there. Thankfully, he had left and was headed for the city Buddy had mentioned had an understaffed hospital. In her head Kay knew this was good because he'd be nearby if one of the transgenics ever needed his help.

"Could you make a run into town for me?" Mary asked tentatively. She knew Kay didn't like being in public since her enemies thought she was dead and also because she had stolen the motorcycle. Of course, she was hardly recognizable with her new hairdo.

"Sure. It'll be nice to get out of here for a little while." Kay couldn't help feeling a little trapped with having to spend all her time on the farm. As nervous as she was about being spotted, she liked to get away. Her little wasted trip with Ben hadn't been enough for her.

Kay pulled into the parking lot of the little grocery store in town, then looked down at the list Mary had given her. _Decaf? Lydecker's not gonna be happy about that!_ She had just entered the building when she heard a familiar voice.

"Do you know of any places for sale around here?"

That voice sounded so much like Max's it was amazing. Max wouldn't have come here when she left Seattle, would she? Kay headed for the checkout counter and was stunned to see Max standing there talking to the cashier. The strange thing was she wasn't alone, there was a man and a little boy with her. After the cashier told her he didn't know, Max turned around and saw Kay. Funny, her eyes didn't show any signs of recognition. Kay smiled and gave a little wave, Max just offered a tiny smile in return. Her eyes still didn't show that she knew who Kay was. As she walked past, Kay looked down at Max's right hand. There was no Caduceus on her palm. _Damn, is this the same clone Dr. Carr was talking about?_ Kay turned and followed the woman out into the parking lot, then rushed forward and grabbed her by the arm. The clone's first reaction was to whirl around and try to kick, but Kay blocked her foot as it was coming up and twisted her arm hard.

"Relax, I'm not looking for trouble. I just have a couple questions to ask."

The woman stepped back and studied Kay mistrustingly. "What do you want?"

"I just want to know if you were in Seattle recently."

"What's it to you?"

"I have a friend there who looks an awful lot like you and I want to know if you ran into her."

The woman frowned at her. "Yeah I ran into her. She's still there now as far as I know. Who are you?"

"Kay."

"I meant your designation."

"I don't use it anymore and don't really think there's a point in bringing it up. What's your name?"

"Sam."

Kay smirked slightly. "Is there something in your DNA that calls for boys' names?"

Sam studied her face carefully, then half-smiled when she saw that Kay was joking.

"Are there a lot of transgenics in the area? I mean, Seattle has Terminal City, what about this place?"

"The closest thing we have to Terminal City is the farm I live on, but there's not as many of us there."

"How many and what kind?"

"We're all X5s, and there's four of us."

Sam bit her lip thoughtfully. "My designation is 453. What's theirs and yours? And don't give me any crap about not using it anymore, I just want to know if I remember you from Manticore."

"The others are '09 escapees: 734, 493, and 599. I was in Manticore until it burned down. I'm 358."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "I know you. Renfro called you her pride and joy except for your rather loud personality."

Kay grinned. "I never liked to make things easy for her. Do you know if Max is staying in Seattle?"

"As far as I know."

Kay turned to look at Sam's companions, who were standing well away from the two. "Who are they?"

"My family."

Kay didn't ask any more questions, she knew the boy couldn't possibly be Sam's child. She figured Sam adopted him when she married his father. She couldn't have asked any more questions if she wanted to because she spotted the Skeptic crossing the parking lot with four new men behind him. _He got new replacements already?_ They didn't even glance in her direction, but she still didn't like being near them. Sam's eyes followed her gaze.

"Who're they?"

"Bad news. You might want to get your family out of here, those people can't be trusted." Sam nodded and headed for the SUV she had been driving with her husband and step-son close behind. Kay got in her car and waited for the Reds to come back out. Mary's list could wait. She watched as they climbed back into their van and took off. She followed closely, making sure she wasn't being too obvious. They apparently weren't staying in their metal shed in the woods anymore because they didn't head in even the general direction of it. They actually went out the other side of town and pulled off onto a gravel road. Kay drove past it and watched to see where they stopped. They made it to a few old houses that had been abandoned long ago by some rich families that had taken off after the Pulse hit. It's effects had come into Canada as well.

Kay pulled over to the side of the road once she was out of their sight and took off across the field towards them. They couldn't see her coming once they went into one of the houses, but Kay still kept herself as low as possible as she ran. She didn't want to take any chances.

Once she reached the house they had gone into, she looked for a good way in. She didn't want to use the front door, she had heard its squeak from the field. Her best chance would be a broken window, which there were plenty of. She finally found one that satisfied her, it was on the second floor and there was no way they could see her once she was in or as she was jumping up. She made sure she couldn't be seen before taking a tiny running jump at the window. Her fingers grabbed the edge of the sill easily enough, but she had to be careful not to cry out in surprise as broken glass cut through her skin. She pulled herself through the opening and examined her hands as soon as both her feet were firmly planted on the floor. There was blood flowing steadily from nearly all her fingers and glass was still embedded in her flesh. She picked as many tiny pieces out as she could, then set off down the hall to find the Reds.

There was a classic stairway going downstairs that could be seen by the first floor. Kay had to crouch low and creep up to the banister in order to peer down at them without being seen. The Reds were grouping in the living room, directly in her line of vision. Kay settled herself down to watch them, but before she could see any more, the world went black.

* * *

Kay woke up to find herself bound and gagged on the couch with the Reds all watching her. The thing that surprised her was that there were six of them, one of them had not been at the grocery store. He must have been upstairs the entire time. He was the one who reached out and pulled off the rag that was blocking her mouth, but it was the Skeptic who spoke. 

"What are you doing here? I thought I made it clear last time that I had no business with you. You seem to be persuaded otherwise."

"Cut the fancy bullshit. Anyone who attacks me once and doesn't give a reason has business with me."

"Do you want to know why I attacked you the first time?"

"Well, I'm more than a little curious."

"It's because we were led to believe something that I later found out wasn't true."

"You've already said that. Did it have something to do with the Coming?" He looked at her in surprise. Kay knew she was taking a chance here, but if she could find out what the Coming was through him, then so be it.

"What do you know about the Coming?" he asked her cautiously.

"Not much, other than the fact that it's bad news for normal people. Is that why you're looking for the key?" Once again, he gave her a stunned look.

"Well, as long as you know there's a key, I can give you more information on why I attacked you. In the beginning, I believed that the key was a transgenic, specifically an X5. I had information from Manticore that led me to believe a couple of the X5s had different purposes than the others. There was always the chance that you were one of those X5s, so we came after you. I found out later that the key is not a transgenic, so I no longer have an interest in you."

"Do you know what the Coming is?"

"From what I know, it's an airborne disease. The breeding cult that knows of the Coming has been preparing for it for several generations. According to my sources, thousands of years ago a young woman was found with a strange disease in her blood. It was a different form of the virus that was commonly found in a certain breed of snake, which was fatal to humans. That snake of course is the one used in the cult's rituals today. The disease was usually passed through being bitten by the snake or somehow having the snake's blood flow into your own, but the strain of the disease that was in this girl's blood could be passed to the air if the right technique was used.

The people who found out about it immediately began thinking of power. As I'm sure you know, some people are naturally born with a better immune system than others, so those that knew about this girl started pairing up these kinds of people and making them reproduce. Once the child was about six years old, blood from one of the snakes was put into them. The first group all died immediately, but they kept reproducing. The second group lasted a little longer with the disease in their system, but they eventually died as well. It was in the third group that a few lived. It wasn't very many, but those few children now had an immunity to the disease. They were later matched with more people like their parents who had good immune systems. They were not paired with each other because it was feared that inbreeding would eventually ruin what they had. It was always the third child that was used, so the first two were just destroyed immediately so there wouldn't be a hassle.

The girl with the disease in her blood was paired with one of the immune children as soon as he was old enough and their third child was a daughter just like her mother, that particular strain of the disease resided in her as well. As this breeding continued, these people grew stronger as well. The descendants of the girl with the disease were all female, that seemed to be something that came with having the disease in their blood. Every one of these daughters was paired with one of the immune children. Somewhere today is a woman with this blood in her, and she'll be much stronger than the other cult members as well. Since her ancestors were always both Familiars, it made her family line stronger than the others. She's the one known as the key to the Coming."

Kay finally had to interrupt. "As great a story as this is, if they had a key in every generation, then why didn't they just do it right away?" While the Skeptic had been talking, one of the other Reds had untied her since she was no longer a threat, so she was now sitting upright on the couch with the Skeptic sitting in front of her on a chair and the others off doing work that she couldn't see.

"Well, they wanted to have more of their own in the world. They also wanted to be sure they were all strong enough to handle a slightly different strain. The way they determined this was to wait for the year that all the children who took the initiation test survived it. It hasn't happened yet, otherwise they would have started the Coming. The only information I got out of the last Familiar I killed was that there was only one child killed this year, but they're not positive."

Ray! Now Kay had even more reason to keep that little boy safely hidden.

"Why do you want the key? What does it have to do with you?"

"Well, it's not exactly the key we're looking for so much as the anti-key. There was also a family line that held the antidote for the disease in the key's blood. As far as I know, these have all been male. The cult has never been able to determine which family line it is, but if this family's blood was changed slightly, how I don't know, then added to the blood of the key, it would neutralize the disease. The same formula that would neutralize the disease also has a sort of lasting effect. It's sort of a preserving method that makes your body last longer. That is what we want. We are all going to die shortly, me before these others because I've had the implant longer, and this would give us a normal life span. We'd be able to survive the implants' side effects of wearing us out. That's why we want it."

The Skeptic was snapped out of his story when the same Red that had knocked Kay out earlier came into the room with Sam in his arms. She was squirming in his grasp, but wasn't anywhere near strong enough to break free. Kay stood up and walked over to them.

"It's okay, she's with me."

The Red looked at the Skeptic for affirmation, then let Sam go at his nod. Sam stood up straight and brushed herself off, then took a step back as the Skeptic approached her.

"Aren't you 452?"

"453 actually. I wish people would stop getting me confused with her. Do we look that much alike?" Same quipped. Kay grinned, then gestured to the Skeptic that Sam was telling the truth.

"Did you follow me all the way here?"

"Yep. You seem like the sort that gets into trouble a lot and I just thought I'd be nice."

"For one thing, even when I do get into trouble, I get myself back out of it. And secondly, I have spent enough time here for one day. I'm going home."

Fortunately, the Skeptic didn't have any objection to this. That made Kay feel a little better, that was one less enemy for her. Sam later drove off in a different direction, so Kay gave her a wave goodbye and headed back to town. After all that went on she still had to buy Mary's groceries.

When she returned home, Mary came out to meet her in the driveway. "What took you so long?"

Kay grinned coyly. "Grocery shopping is a dangerous thing."


	20. Man In My Dreams

****

Outside

By Be Boring

****

Chapter 20: Man In My Dreams

The dark was so solid that Kay didn't dare move from her spot. Curled up in a ball in a corner on the cold stone floor, she clung to her knees and rocked back and forth for both comfort and warmth. The silence that had been never-ending for quite some time now had caused her to start hearing things that weren't really there, and what she imagined was worse than anything that could happen to her in reality. In her mind's eye she could see the Nomlies prowling just outside the door, lurking, waiting for the door to open so they could eat her. She should never have let Zack get to her like he did.

They had been out in the low brush behind Manticore, learning to sneak by each other. Kay had heard Zack coming and pulled him out of his hiding spot. The fight that had followed had caused everyone to come running, including Lydecker and the other adults that were keeping tabs on them out here. Neither one had wanted to give up, and they fought till they were covered with blood. Kay had sent the first soldier to try to separate them flying, and Zack had broken another one's arm. Now men with guns were heading in their direction, but neither one cared. They were too focused on tearing the other to shreds to care. It wasn't until Krit tried to stop the fighting, out of concern for his brother's well-being of course, that the two became frightened. When Krit threw himself into Kay's side to knock her over, she not only stayed on her feet but grabbed his head and started to twist. That was when she had paused, hearing Krit's low whimper of pain and seeing the others around her freeze. Horrified, she had dropped Krit to the ground, knowing that she had been half a second from killing him. The fact that she let him go didn't matter to anyone, she still received punishment.

This was too severe. Lydecker had left Kay in here a couple days at a stretch before, but never five days. Her only way of telling time was when she heard the water turn on. In isolation, the only thing you were given was water, which poured out of an opening in the wall into a tiny bowl that was built into the wall. This came every morning, and it was the only water she'd receive all day. It was certainly no more than a cup, and that started to wear down her body after a few days. Now she barely had the strength to get up and her body temperature was dropping fast. She had never been so tired, but she was afraid that if she fell asleep the Nomlies would get in. Her imagination was running wild with her, but the exhaustion was taking over. She was curled up in a fetal position and was rocking slowly back and forth, praying that she wouldn't fall asleep. She rarely prayed to the Blue Lady, but this was one of those times that she swallowed her pride and grasped at straws for hope just to stay sane.

The light that hit her suddenly terrified her, she was sure the Nomlies had come in. To keep from screaming, she bit down on her lip so hard that she felt blood trickle down her chin. The dark shapes in the doorway were transformed into huge monsters in her mind. She kept her eyes locked on the wall in front of her, not wanting to see what was coming for her.

"On your feet, 358," Lydecker snapped. Kay was jerked out of her private nightmare and back to reality. She had never been more happy to hear his voice. She leapt to her feet and teetered, her strength so badly diminished that she could barely keep her balance. She could sense his satisfaction at this and hated him for it. As she headed for the door where he was directing her, she kept her mind trained on each step. It took most of her effort to keep from stumbling and going down as she walked. Most people seeing a six-year-old child in this condition would have called it child abuse, but at Manticore it was standard operating procedure.

As they were passing one of the few offices in the building, Kay couldn't keep her feet moving any more. Her legs simply crumpled beneath her and she hit the floor like a load of bricks. She was dimly aware of the office door opening slightly, but her attention was taken away from it by the sight of Lydecker standing above her.

"Get back to your feet, soldier!"

Kay couldn't get her feet under her again, the muscles in her legs seemed to have melted. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him nod to the soldier next to him, who kicked her straight in the gut. Kay held back a groan as the force of the kick rolled her over. She reached out and grabbed the wall in an attempt to use it to help pull her up, but the soldier's foot hit her in the ribs and sent her back to the floor. She felt her head connect with the stone, but had no time to worry about her new head wound as Lydecker clutched the back of her shirt and dragged her to her feet. As he shoved her down the hall, she heard someone speak from behind her so low that she was the only one with the ability to hear it.

"I'm sorry, so sorry."

Kay sat bolt upright in bed, breathing hard and drenched in sweat. Ben sat up next to her.

"Kay? What's wrong?"

She gasped for air and looked desperately at his face. He looked real enough. Oh God, it had just been a dream. She collapsed back onto the bed in relief, still trying to steady her breathing.

"Nothing, nothing. Just a bad dream."

"Are you sure? You look pretty freaked out for that to have just been a dream."

"Well, it was actually a memory, but that's okay. It was a long time ago, I was just sort of reliving it. God, it seemed so real."

Ben rolled so he was above her and gently pushed her damp hair off her face. "Will you be ok?"

She lifted her head off the pillow and kissed him softly, the taste of his lips forcing away her last traces of terror. "A-ok. You know, as long as we're awake..."

He rolled his eyes at her as he moved back from the kiss. "One-track mind. I'm tired."

"Oh, don't be a tease."

Ben grinned down at her. Despite his protests, she could already see in his eyes that she had won him over. "Now since when have I ever been a tease?"

* * *

Kay and Brin had come up from working with the horses so they could get something to drink. In spite of how chilly Kay felt out in the breeze, Brin couldn't stop saying how strangely hot it was out there. Kay watched her sister as they drank their water and noticed that her eyes kept moving out to the driveway and staying there, seemingly fascinated. Kay looked out at the driveway and saw Ben talking with Buddy as he took a short break from his work. His t-shirt was soaked with sweat and as he pulled it off Kay noticed Brin's eyes light up strangely. 

"Uh, Manticore didn't happen to fix your heat cycles when you were there, did they?"

Brin turned to her with a surprised face. "No, something about the fact that my Progeria had changed something slightly and they couldn't stop the cycles without chancing a relapse of the condition. Why do you ask?" She had hardly finished the question when Kay saw the realization come into her eyes. "Oh shit."

"Yeah, exactly. Want to hide out in my basement?"

"Sounds as good as anything else."

After Kay had locked the basement door behind Brin, she headed for where Ben, Buddy, and now Zack were talking in the driveway.

"Hey guys. My basement's off limits for a while, okay? Brin needs privacy." Both X5s nodded in understanding, but Kay waved off the questioning look she got from Buddy. "You don't want to know, just don't go in my basement."

Ben flashed her a thumbs up. "I know better than to walk into the middle of that basement when you're in it and the same goes for Brin now too. Well, I gotta get back to work. That woodpile isn't going to get any bigger if I leave it alone."

Kay nodded, knowing it was probably best if she stayed in the house to make sure Brin didn't escape the basement. Every X5 was different when they were in heat, and Brin could turn out to be unmanageable. _Nah, this is Brin I'm talking about, she'll be fine._ She should have paid more attention when a little voice popped up in the back of her head saying 'yeah right.'

* * *

Is she ever gonna stop? Brin had been going insane most of the night. It seemed that she didn't have as much control over herself as Kay did when she was in heat. Of course, Kay had a secret fear in her of something like Lydecker happening again, which seemed to give her more control. She finally climbed out of bed and headed for the basement. Ben was sound asleep behind her, so hopefully if she had to go to extremes with Brin, he wouldn't get caught in it. She already had her extremes set up in her mind, but she didn't want to use that plan unless she absolutely had to. In the next instant, she found out she would have to.

The moment the door opened, Brin launched herself at Kay. As soon as the two women hit the ground, Brin jumped up and started for the bedroom where Ben was sleeping.

"I don't think so, honey!" Kay grumbled as she grabbed Brin's arm and dragged her back to the basement. She shut the door behind her once they were both in and took her sister downstairs. The place was a mess! The few chairs and the table that had been set up down here for Kay's heat cycles had been flung all over the place and the bed, which was nailed to the floor, had somehow been turned onto its side. The sheets had small holes in them where Brin had gripped them so tightly that her nails dug through the material, and there was blood on her hands from clenching her fists hard enough for her nails to cut her skin.

"Kay, you can give Ben up just this once! I need him more than you do, dammit!" Brin snarled in anger, swinging a fist at Kay's head. It wasn't that hard to duck, but it made Kay mad.

"I didn't want to ruin any chances of you having a normal friendship, but oh well." Kay took the ripped sheets and tore a strip to blindfold Brin with. Brin didn't really like having it over her eyes, but Kay didn't want her seeing anyone else while she was moving her. She didn't want to take the chance of Brin attacking some farm worker who might figure out what she was.

The walk outside seemed to calm Brin down a little, but Kay knew that if she heard a male voice that she'd be running in that direction. _Damn, I didn't want to have to do this, but there's nowhere else to take her and I can't keep her in the basement anymore. She's doing too much damage to herself._

The inside of the house was hot and Brin's body immediately reacted. Kay led her to the closed door that held her extreme, if only she didn't have to do this. Brin would beat herself up about it afterwards and it might ruin any chance of a normal friendship. She opened the door silently and saw him sleeping in the bed, completely oblivious as to what he was about to be doing. Kay reached up and removed Brin's blindfold, then stepped back. Brin's eyes lit up when she saw him and she literally pounced onto the bed.

All he managed to get out was "What the?" before the pheromones she was throwing off began affecting him and he didn't care anymore. Kay left the house before she could regret what she had done. Leaving Brin with Zack was the best thing she could do, he could take care of her needs and she wouldn't be in danger of exposure. She was just worried about what they would be like when the heat was over. Oh well, she'd worry about that later. This at least got Brin off her back.

Ben was sitting up in bed when she came back in. He could see by her expression that something was wrong. He watched her for a moment, then broke the silence that Kay was too ashamed of herself to break on her own.

"You took her to Zack, didn't you?"

Kay couldn't meet his eyes. She knew he had never thought of her as family, but Brin and Zack were his brother and sister. Who knew what he would think of this? She just stood by the window and stared out at the window of Zack's house that she knew to belong to his bedroom. With her enhanced sight she could see the dark figures moving in a way that definitely meant that Brin was getting her needs met. Hell, maybe Zack's needs were being met as well. He certainly didn't seem the type to be getting a lot of action while he was watching over the others. Still, the fact that they were like family to each other made it seem horribly wrong. It wasn't until she felt arms circle her waist that she realized Ben had gotten out of bed.

"You did the right thing."

Kay started to pull out of his grasp. "I'm not so sure."

He tightened his grip on her, turned her face towards him with his fingertips, and kissed her tenderly. That hadn't been the reaction she was expecting from him for setting up something that would be like incest to him. When he finally let her pull her head back from the kiss, his eyes told her that he didn't hate her, in fact, it was quite the opposite.

"There was nothing else you could do short of giving her to a complete stranger that could figure out what she is or giving her to me. I don't think either of those options would have worked out very well. At least you know she's not in danger where she is."

"I can't believe you're taking this so well. I mean, to you they're your family."

"True, but not really. If they were my brother and sister, then wouldn't our relationship be wrong? You did what you could do, and it's probably the same decision I would make if I were in that situation."

"Really?"

"Really. Come back to bed. You could use some sleep."

Laying in the bed with her head resting comfortably against his chest with his arms around her, Kay felt at rest. All thoughts of Zack and Brin were erased from her mind. Nothing could get to her here. His fingers ran through her hair, then down to stroke her shoulder and arm. She felt tiny chills race down her back, but he wasn't doing it in a sexual way. It was more comforting than anything else and that was what he wanted, to put her mind at ease. Well, it was working.

* * *

Kay had never been more stunned when she received a phone call from Max telling her that Sandeman had been part of the breeding cult. Not just that, but White was his son! That had nearly sent Kay into shock. She had had Sandeman's grandson living on the farm this entire time. The information that Max now had strange runes appearing on her body was almost as shocking. Max joked about drinking something called "Tattoos From Within", but Kay didn't think it was that funny. She remembered what Lydecker had said about Sandeman using special scientists on her and Max. _I don't need to have funny markings all over my body!_ Maybe Sandeman had made sure she was to start showing these runes at a certain time. Max said Logan had had that same idea, and White had said they talked about the Coming. 

"I don't even think these things are done showing up yet! Every ten minutes there's a new one! I'm going to literally be an open book! All I wanted was a normal life, is that too much to ask? I mean, I have a virus designed to kill Logan in me, I have no junk DNA, and now I have foreign writing showing up on my body! You just watch, pretty soon I'm going to grow a second head."

Kay couldn't help but laugh at that. "Don't forget a third foot. How about another ass, that would be fun."

Both girls giggled over that, but Kay could tell Max was more worried about this than she was letting on. She had a right to be, those runes would make her even more of a priority to the Familiars. Now she was basically a walking target. It would just be her luck if those runes wound up saying 'HIT ME, I'M WORTH IT!'

Max launched into the story of how she had found out everything. Kay had to smile at the thought of that C.J. guy trying to convince everyone in Terminal City that he was transgenic. It didn't really surprise her that he was White's brother, both were lunatics. When she hung up, Kay couldn't help feeling a little curious as to why C.J. had been so dead set on protecting Max once he found out who she really was. _What if they just locked him up again? I could get him out of there easily. Maybe this time he would actually put us in contact with his father. _She shook her head fiercely. That was a stupid idea, she shouldn't even bother. Besides, she wanted to be around when Brin came back out of heat. Kay didn't want her to be alone with the idea that she had screwed her brother, which was most likely how she'd feel. Why did things always have to be so damned complicated?

Kay spent all morning arguing with herself. Part of her wanted to get C.J. away from the Conclave and get the answers she needed, another part wanted to forget him and let those freaks do what they wanted to him. After all, White was his brother, things couldn't turn out too bad for him. Then again, White had had no trouble with killing his wife, what would his brother be to him? Maybe she should go get him. If she was careful and went fast, she could be back before Brin went out of heat and get the information afterwards.

Kay ran and jumped onto her motorcycle before she could change her mind. If she was going to do this she would have to get it over with quickly. She shot out of the driveway before Ben could reach her. She'd be back soon enough and she didn't want to have second thoughts while talking to him. She struggled to keep her mind clear during the entire ride, which was difficult considering the trip was a couple hours. She was starting to get her hopes up, she really wanted to meet Sandeman and get the answers for both her and Max.

Kay now had to find White. She wasn't planning on letting him see her, but maybe if she kept an eye on him he'd give up some information about where C.J. was. How was she supposed to find White? He could be anywhere in the city right now. Ok, she could always try and figure out where they would have stashed C.J. Didn't Max mention that he talked about them saying he was crazy? An asylum! It would be the easiest place to get rid of him without anyone looking for him there. There was no reason why not, so she headed for Jam Pony. She'd have to make sure no one caught sight of her while she was there, particularly Sketchy and Normal. Max had told her about Normal becoming a fierce anti-transgenic, so Sketchy almost surely would have told him about her. Thankfully no one had seen her new hair, so as long as she didn't make her face too visible it wouldn't be a problem.

The place was buzzing with people. Kay even recognized a few X5s from Manticore so she made sure to not let her face be easily seen. Max hadn't been kidding when she said they were running Transgenic Central right under Normal's nose. Kay headed to the payphone and grabbed the telephone book. There were only two asylums in Seattle, one in Sector 4 and another in Sector 9. She made sure to plant the addresses in her memory, she didn't need to get lost. She headed for Sector 4 first. She wasn't even sure C.J. would be in one of them, but it was better than doing nothing.

How was she even going to find C.J. if she didn't know what he looked like? She'd need to be discreet in case he had a cellmate. She couldn't just ask for Sandeman's son, that would be a death wish. What about that snake Max had mentioned he had from the Conclave? Hadn't she said he'd given it a name? George! The Conclave didn't know about that, and any cellmate of his would think she was as loony as he was. She pulled up next to the Sector 4 asylum and looked up at the bars on the windows. How simple. She looked for any sign of movement in any of the rooms and finally spotted a window on the third floor where a shadow briefly passed on the opposite wall.

Kay frowned as she studied the window, it was just a bit out of her reach. She would only need a small boost to get to it. Eventually she just decided to take a good running jump. She backed up about twenty feet and took off running. A few feet away from the wall she shoved off the ground as hard as she could, just barely managing to catch hold of one of the bars. She held onto it as hard as she could and grabbed another bar, then pulled herself up enough so that she could see the people inside. There were two men in straightjackets; one who was bald and wrinkled, the other was in his mid-twenties who definitely had a rather half-hazard appearance.

"Anybody here know George?"

The younger man's eyes shot up off the ground. "George? How do you know about him?"

Kay thought as best as she could. "He says his father made some pretty cool things in a lab. I had something to do with that." Her eyes were trying to hint it to him, but she wasn't sure if he was bright enough to get it. Fortunately, she saw realization dawn in his eyes. He came over to the window so his cellmate couldn't hear them.

"Are you here to get me out?"

"I'm working on it. Back up for a sec."

C.J. carefully backed up and gave her room. Kay pulled a foot up and braced it against one of the bars and grabbed the bar next to it with both hands. She carefully took a deep breath and then pushed with her foot while pulling with her arms. She got the bars to pull a somewhat respectable distance apart, but nothing even she could fit through. She changed tactics and braced both feet against the wall while pulling on the bars. She threw her body weight back as hard as she could, and was stunned when the whole set of bars popped right out of the wall. She easily landed on her feet without a scratch on her, but looked around cautiously. She just hoped nobody had heard that.

She took another running jump at C.J.'s window, and this time C.J. stuck out his arm to help her. Despite his Familiar blood, he apparently didn't have a lot of strength seeing as how she pulled him out of the window so easily. In the split seconds before they hit the ground, Kay wrapped her arms around C.J. and took the hardest part of the landing on herself. As soon as she tore off his straightjacket, he threw his arms around her and squeezed as hard as he could. It may not have been much, but it was enough to make her feel a little squished.

"Thank you so much! I knew someone would get me out after I went back there!"

Kay squirmed her way out of his hold. "You'll be going right back in if you don't help me."

His eyes looked wild at the thought of being locked up again. "Anything! I'll do anything! Just don't put me back in there!"

"Do you know how to contact your father?"

"Dad? Sure, I know how to get a hold of him. He made me a promise after my brother left and they killed my mom. He said he'd go to my dream place."

"And where is that exactly?"

"Kansas City! My favorite movie as a kid was The Wizard of Oz! I always said Kansas was my dream place and I'd go to the city named for it, Kansas City! He'll be there, I'm sure."

"How about aliases? Any idea what he'd use for a fake name?"

"Gijoe."

"What makes you say that?"

"My favorite toy as a kid was a GI Joe. He always called it Gijoe. He made all these plans with me so I'd be able to find him."

"I think I can see where you get your personality. Come on, let's go. We're not going to Kansas City, but we're going to a farm. Is that enough for you?"

C.J. grinned and nodded. When he climbed onto the motorcycle behind her, he squeezed her again too hard. _After this, I'm going out and buying a shirt that says I'M WITH STUPID._ He held on to her like that for the rest of the ride, which was more than a little uncomfortable.

Ben's face when they pulled in was priceless. "Kay, where were you? Who's this?"

"This is C.J. He's going to be a great help to us. Isn't that right?" She said the last question a little rougher than the rest, making her point to C.J. He nodded almost too enthusiastically, Kay was worried his head just might flop off.

"Is Brin out of it yet?"

"Nope. If you get too close to that house, you can hear them clear as day." He was about to continue when he looked over Kay's shoulder and froze. Kay glanced back and realized that Brin had come out of her and Zack's house, looking rather shaken.

"C.J., I want your ass in that house over there. It's where I had better find you when I come looking for you."

He nodded fervently, apparently not wanting to get on her bad side. After all, she had pulled him out of the third story of a building when he was trying to pull her in. He took off in the direction of the house. Kay just hoped he had never met Ray before and that Ray had never met him. She didn't want them to know they were related.

Ben caught her attention before she ran after Brin. "Maybe I should talk to her. After all, if she's mad she might blame you for taking her there in the first place. You go talk to Zack. I can handle Brin."

Kay nodded and took off towards Zack's house. She hadn't even reached the door when she smelled the sex in the air. They must have really been working it while she was gone. No wonder Brin wasn't in the best of moods. Kay wandered to where the smell was the strongest, the bedroom. Zack was sitting on the bed, staring in a strange, unfocused way at the floor. She opened the only window in the room to hopefully air some of the smell out. She wouldn't be able to talk to him if it stayed this strong. When Zack didn't even seem to acknowledge her presence, Kay took the time to open all the windows in the house. She came back to sit next to him when she was done.

"Are you okay?"

He kept staring at the floor with no emotion on his face, but his voice gave his pain away. "I can't believe I did that. What was I thinking?"

"You couldn't control yourself any more than Brin could. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. Yell at me."

He turned his head to look at her, and she almost wished he hadn't. The pain in his eyes was horrible, she ached for him worse than she could have ever thought she would. "I couldn't yell at you, you did what you thought was best for her. I've seen Brin in heat before, she's most likely the worst with it out of all the girls. She'll tear herself apart if she doesn't get any satisfaction. That's why I always made sure she ended up with a decent guy, because I didn't want to help her out myself. I always thought she'd never be able to think of me as the leader in the same way. I understand it was different this time because now people know about transgenics and their heat cycles, so you couldn't just go to a perfect stranger. Still, I hate that it got to the point where you needed to bring her to me."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. Brin knows you couldn't control yourself. You did her a favor if nothing else. You can't blame yourself for it."

"It's not just that. I know none of us are family, but it still feels wrong. You and Max are the only ones I never thought of as family, for different reasons at first, then the same."

"What do you mean?"

"I was always in love with Max, so I didn't consider her my sister. At first I didn't think of you as my family because I hated you, then because I cared a lot for you. As Adam Thompson I fell in love with you, and even when I got my memory back I still cared a lot for you. Now I don't feel anything like that, but I could never let anything happen to you. I'll never think of you as family, just as a very close friend. Please don't hold that against me."

Kay smiled a little and put her hand on his arm. "I would never do that. Just as you can't expect Brin to hold any of this against you. Can you come up with something to argue against that?"

Zack finally smiled a little for her. "No, I can't really come up with anything at the moment. Just give me a little while to get my thoughts together and I'll give you a call when I do come up with something."

Kay laughed and surprised him and even herself by pulling him to her in a close hug. No matter what he had done to her in the past, he was still special. She knew that if Ben hadn't come along she would probably have become involved with him, but that didn't make her feel awkward around him. He was the first man to get her to open up in any way and he would always be precious for that.

Through a faceful of Kay's hair, Zack whispered, "Go see Brin. Make sure she doesn't hold it against you that you brought her over here." Kay nodded, gave him a final squeeze, then got up to find Brin and Ben. It wasn't too hard, Brin had a very oversexed smell that gave Kay another pang of guilt. What if Brin was too angry to talk to her?

That most certainly wasn't the case. Kay walked into the barn that she could smell Brin went into and got hit right away with her sister, tears streaming down her face. Kay was expecting some sort of attack, but instead Brin hugged her tightly, sobbing quietly.

"He thinks I'm a slut, doesn't he? God, Kay you weren't there. What we did, the way we did it, I feel like some street hooker. How can he ever look at me again without thinking of what we did?"

Kay gave her sister a tight squeeze, then pushed her back a bit so she could look her in the eye. "He won't be able to, but that's just because he'll be worried that you could never respect him again after this."

Brin wiped tears off her face, looking slightly stunned. "Respect him? Of course I respect him! You don't know how many times in the past he's saved my ass. What happened last night wasn't near enough to repay him for all the work he's put into me without anything in return. Why would he be scared I can't respect him?"

Kay smiled gently at her. "For the same reason you're afraid he thinks you're a slut, because that's how most other people would react. Zack isn't most other people, Brin. He really cares about you."

Brin slowly sank down onto a hay bale. "What do I do now? Where are we supposed to go from here?"

Kay reached down and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'd recommend that you go talk to him about that. You two are the only people who can work this thing out."

Brin nodded, then climbed back to her feet with some help from Kay. She wasn't too steady on her feet, but the look on her face told Kay that she wanted to walk up to Zack on her own. She just smiled encouragingly and stepped back to give her room. As soon as Brin exited the barn, Kay found herself being kissed by Ben.

"Sometimes you really impress me. You just know how to be with people."

Kay pulled her face away from his. "Speaking of being with people, I've got a crazy person to deal with. That could take awhile."

Ben smiled and stepped back understandingly. Kay pulled him down to her for one more kiss, then went to her house. As soon as she opened the door, C.J. nearly ran her over in his excitement.

"I got hold of Dad! I've got him on the phone right now!" He waved the telephone in front of Kay's face. She scowled and pulled it away from him.

"How?"

"I used the operator and asked for a Mr. Gijoe in Kansas City. There was only one, and it was him!"

Kay stared down at the phone. How could she trust him? He had ratted out Max to White, who was to say he wouldn't do the same thing to her? She wouldn't know if the person on the other end of the line was Sandeman or not, how could she? Finally, she put the phone up to her ear.

"Who is this?"

"My son tells me you already know my name and have a lot of questions for me. I'm sorry for not being able to answer them sooner, so sorry."

Kay nearly dropped the phone. That voice, the apology. It sounded so familiar it frightened her. Then she remembered her dream. That voice from behind the office door, what if that was Sandeman?

"I need to meet with you. Where's a mutual place we can meet?"

"How about the site where Manticore used to be? The one in Gillette? Will that work?"

"That'll work fine. I want to see you at midnight in two days, do you understand me?"

"I understand perfectly. I will be there."

Kay heard the click on the other end, but didn't hang up her phone for at least another five minutes. Her head was spinning, her questions could finally be answered. This time she was the one who hugged C.J., not the other way around. This might finally be over.


	21. Paradise Lost

****

Outside

By Be Boring

****

Chapter 21: Paradise Lost

"As dawn breaks on this, the third day of the siege at Terminal City, the situation is tense but unchanged. While several hundred transgenics remain barricaded inside the restricted area, police and National Guard stand an uneasy watch at the perimeter--each side seemingly waiting to see what the other will do next."

Kay grabbed the remote and turned off the television, feeling absolutely disgusted. Now Max was trapped inside Terminal City? Of course things had to be screwed up like this. She had been planning on picking up Max on her way to Gillette so that she could get her answers as well, but that apparently wasn't going to be happening. She had found out just before she left about what was going on in Seattle, but couldn't get a hold of anyone. The communications seemed to be down, and Logan wasn't answering his phone at Joshua's. Kay doubted she could get Max safely out of Terminal City and still make her deadline to meet with Sandeman. The meeting would be tonight, and there were already a million problems.

First of all, when she had hugged C.J. the day she had set the meeting with Sandeman, she'd felt the tiny electronic microphone in his hair. It had been on the back of his neck, about an inch into his hair. At first she thought that the Familiars had set him up, probably expecting Max to send a rescue party for him, but then she had seen C.J. seemingly talking to himself a lot. Hey, he could get away with it; after all, he was crazy. It was more than obvious that he was helping his brother again. Luckily, C.J. had not yet seen Ray, so Kay made arrangements to leave immediately for Wyoming. She also brought along Zack, Brin, Ben, and even Lydecker, despite C.J. complaining that they 'made him nervous'. Of course they made him nervous, they might be able to stand a chance against whoever would now ambush them at Manticore.

The next problem was Normal. He'd given her a call the same day the news came out about Terminal City, saying that Max had told him to call. According to him, they had been attacked by people much stronger than themselves and just barely managed to beat them. That was all the information he could give her, he hadn't seen the fight himself. He said he'd been delivering the baby of another X5 during all that was going on. The only smile Kay had had in the last couple days was when Normal told her that the X5 in labor had punched out one of the stronger soldiers. Kay could just imagine the girl saying "I'm having a baby, dammit!" Other than that, she had stayed pretty serious.

Brin and Zack were uncomfortable around each other, even after their conversation, so Brin was staying in the same room as Kay, Ben and Zack in another room, and Lydecker and C.J. in another. There was no relaxed conversation, just dead silence. Everyone else had been warned about C.J. being the enemy, so they were acting secretive around him. Kay had left the bug intact, planning on misleading the Familiars. Right after the hug with C.J., Kay had grabbed the phone and hit the redial button. C.J.'s eyes had practically popped out of his head.

"What are you doing?"

She had shrugged carelessly at him. "I just realized Gillette would be a bad place to meet him because of its high profile." She had actually hung up the phone while she was talking, so the line was disconnected before Sandeman could get to the phone. She had proceeded to fake a conversation with him. "Sorry, I just wanted to change the location. Do you have any other ideas? Yeah, that'll work fine. Same time? Ok." She had hung up the phone and smiled to C.J. "Now we can proceed with the meeting."

Kay had known right away that it had been C.J. who had suggested to Sandeman that they should meet at Manticore, so she figured she could keep the same location just as long as the Conclave didn't find out. Now she just had to make sure C.J. never figured out where they were going. Everyone had taken turns distracting him when they went through cities, Brin once actually kissing him, saying that she just wanted to kiss a crazy man once in her life. All the men had just stared at her in shock while Kay burst out laughing in the driver's seat. One of the other most important things was that they couldn't let Kay's name slip in front of C.J. Kay was pretty sure the Familiars didn't know her name, but she still didn't want C.J. finding it out. Ben had let it slip once, but that was before he knew about the threat their new crazy man represented. They also weren't letting Ray's name slip, the last thing they needed was for the Familiars finding out he was alive. If what the Skeptic had said was right, then they would set off the Coming just as soon as they found out. There was also the fact that C.J. might try to steal him back, and although Kay knew the kid wanted to go back, she felt it was her duty as Wendy's friend to make sure he didn't.

Right now Kay could only gaze at the TV and wish she could help Max out. Normal had also told her that Logan, Sketchy, and Original Cindy were in Terminal City with them. Kay knew they wouldn't be able to take it in there too long, maybe another day. She knew Logan had some of Joshua's blood in him so he might last a little longer, but Sketchy and OC would need to be let out as soon as possible. That was her next priority after meeting with Sandeman. _Geez, I'm a busy girl lately!_ All the X5s had gotten their barcodes removed on their way to Wyoming, it would make it easier for them to get through checkpoints.

Kay was sure they had everything covered, all they had to worry about was tonight and making sure C.J. didn't see where they were going. In fact, they'd have to start worrying about that in approximately one hour. Sitting in the motel room she shared with Brin, Kay got the irresistible urge to go visit Ben. It was almost an obsession, she couldn't get him out of her head. Why did she suddenly want to see him so badly? Sure, she loved him and missed him when they weren't together, but this was ridiculous, he was just in the next room. _It's not like I can't go visit him some other time._ She also had the crazy urge to go see Zack and tell him she was grateful for him being the one to first make her come out of her shell, and to contact Max and tell her that Ben was alive, Zack had his memory back, and Brin and Lydecker were alive too. She even wanted to talk to Logan and Alec for just being there. She wished she had paid Sketchy back the money that she owed him for the car, and even tell OC and Normal that she was glad to have met them just to see them argue. She was startled out of her thoughts when Brin came out of the bathroom, brushing her dripping wet hair.

"I made this really good friend after I escaped, a boy named Micah, but Zack made me leave him when I first started coming into heat. Now I wish I had gone back to him, or at least called him just to talk. I don't know why either, I haven't even thought about him in six years. I also really want to stop being uncomfortable around Zack."

Kay raised an eyebrow. "What brought all of this on?"

Brin shrugged. "I don't know. It just won't leave my mind."

Both girls jumped at the loud bang on the window. Kay had to mentally stop herself from letting her jaw drop when she saw that the Skeptic was next to their door, trying to get their attention. Kay walked over and swung the door open.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"You can't meet with Sandeman. He might turn you back in to his kind."

Kay stepped outside and shut the door behind her. "How did you know I was meeting with Sandeman?"

"I have your phone tapped."

Kay immediately smacked him in the face hard enough to make anyone's eyes roll in their head. He simply grimaced and rubbed his cheek.

"You asshole! What reason did you have for doing that?"

"I knew after you left our safe house that you'd want to find Sandeman. When I heard Max tell you about that lunatic Familiar, I knew you'd go get him just so you could contact Sandeman."

Kay's eyes turned to look down the sidewalk where she had seen C.J. try to back into the shadows out of the corner of her eye._ Shit, now he knows I'm in contact with Max. _She turned back to the very determined Red in front of her. "I want you to go now, and I want you to forget about my meeting with Sandeman. The old man will tell me what I need to know and then I'll go. I have no interest in having good old Daddy around, and you will keep your nose out of my damn business!" She kicked him hard in the chest, forcing him back hard so she could go inside and shut the door behind her without him being able to reach her to hold the door open. He pounded on it, but it was a thicker door than most were nowadays. Brin stood there, having overheard the whole conversation. Kay knew perfectly well that Zack and Ben had been standing at their door and listening, and maybe even Lydecker had been eavesdropping. Why hadn't he kept C.J. from overhearing? Suddenly, Kay's mind was in overdrive. The Donald Lydecker she knew wouldn't let the enemy overhear important information like that. Despite the fact that he wasn't up to par with his brother, C.J. was still stronger than the average person and could take out a normal human after a short struggle.

Kay was already out the door and in front of C.J.'s before the Skeptic had time to start up his car. He paused when he saw her, then got back out. He didn't interrupt her as she knocked on the door, and showed his obvious amusement when C.J. answered the door with nothing but a towel on, showing off his scrawny body. Kay noticed that he wasn't letting the door open very far, making sure she couldn't see inside. She didn't even take the time to ask, she simply shoved him out of the way and walked into the room. She saw him reach out and grab one of the guns for later on tonight and attempt to swing it at her head, but the Skeptic had already gotten his shot off with his gun. C.J.'s body slumped to the ground, but Kay didn't pay any attention. She had to find Lydecker and get out of here before that shot was investigated. She heard the door to Zack and Ben's room open as they rushed over, but she was headed for the bathroom. It was the only room that wasn't completely visible from where she was standing, and the smell of blood in her nostrils was leading her in that direction.

Zack had to dash forward and grab her as she nearly toppled over when she jumped away from the door. Part of her had expected him to be dead, but not like this. There was blood all over the floor, indicating that he'd put up one hell of a fight, but it obviously hadn't been good enough. The knife C.J. had used was still on the floor, sitting in a puddle of blood. The colonel was half draped over the edge of the bathtub, his shirt barely there from all the slices C.J. had made at it. It looked as though a lot of the cuts had been made during the fight, but it looked as though there was a point where C.J. pinned him against the tub and started the real cutting. He hadn't even bothered to cut Lydecker's throat, he had gouged out the chest to get to his heart. The bloody mass of flesh that was now Lydecker's chest was only interrupted by the ribs that could be seen clearly.

Kay felt her stomach lurch at the sight, but in the next instant she was seeing red. She ran to C.J.'s body and ripped the bug off the back of his head. "You crazy fuckers!" she growled under her breath, knowing that whoever was at the other end listening to this would be the only person that could hear her, then she slammed the bug to the ground and stepped on it. She heard it crunch under her foot, then stepped back and Zack had to grab her again before she fell over. Ben finally stepped forward.

"What was in there?"

Zack's face was pale as he tried to steady Kay on her feet. "You don't want to see it, little brother, it's not that pretty. I want everyone to stay out of there. We haven't touched anything, so it's probably best if we clear out of here now. We can be early for meeting with Sandeman." He then carefully handed Kay off to Ben, but she pulled herself out of both their reach.

"I'm not a child, I can walk around on my own." At the hardness in her voice, Ben stepped to her side.

"Please don't be like that, I never thought you were a child. I was just concerned."

Kay stepped away from him angrily. "There's no reason to be, I don't need you to take care of me." Ben tried to go after her when she strode out of the room, but Brin grabbed his arm.

"She's in shock, she doesn't really mean what she's saying."

"Why would she be in shock?"

Zack's voice was a little strained. "You didn't see Lydecker's body. I'm in shock too, it was not something they set us up for in Manticore. Our kills are supposed to be clean and quick, but that looked like C.J. enjoyed himself while he was hacking Lydecker apart. It's also the fact that it was Lydecker. He may not be one of us, but frankly I thought the guy was never gonna die with the way he always seemed to hold on. If they could do something that gruesome to him, just think about what a full strength Familiar could do to us just for the hell of it."

Ben grew quiet at that, then headed after Kay. She was already hopping into the van they had used to drive down here with. She didn't look at any of them as they threw their stuff in and climbed in with her. The only person she spoke to was the Skeptic.

"If you're coming along, then you had better get your ass in here." He looked stunned, but Kay knew he would have followed them anyways, she may as well save him the trouble. The second he was in, Kay took off. She barely managed to control her speed, she kept going about twenty miles over the speed limit. Sitting next to her, Ben noticed it but didn't say anything. He had the feeling she might explode if provoked in the wrong way.

Manticore had never seemed so terrifying to most of them, but to Kay it didn't even make her flinch now that Lydecker wasn't here to make it so bad for her. The others didn't seem to quite know what to do when they climbed out of the van, but Kay headed straight for the building that held all her childhood nightmares. Ben and the Skeptic looked at each other nervously, then followed. They all had their guns for protection, so they weren't afraid of being attacked, but they were concerned about Kay going nuts on them. Ben still remembered when Kay and Brin had fought back in the barn where they'd first seen Lydecker again, the way Kay had lost control during the fight. He'd had the feeling she would have killed Brin if he hadn't stopped her. What would they do while she was in this daze? If she lost control, she was certainly strong enough to take them all on, he knew that for sure.

Zack grabbed Brin's arm before she could follow the others. "I'll need your help with these. I didn't want the others to know, I'm just coming prepared."

Brin's eyes widened when she saw what Zack pulled out of his bag. There were enough explosives to send the entire building to the moon!

"Why do you need all this stuff? We're meeting a feeble old man for Christ's sake!"

Zack rolled his eyes. "I'm not scared of the old man, I'm scared of the Familiars still finding out about where we are! I want these things set up in the basement and on the first floor, that way if these people show up I can blow the place sky-high."

Brin was forced to take an armload of explosives and followed along behind the other X5 as they headed for a different entrance. The others could think what they wanted to about their disappearance, they'd come up with a story while they set up the bombs.

Kay's only thought was of getting to Sandeman. She wanted to block out what she had seen at the motel, she just wanted to focus on what she had come here to do. She was passing through the halls that she recognized perfectly, seeing every room as she went by, then continued upstairs. She saw the barracks where they had slept as kids, she saw the lab where they had tortured the kids, and she saw the lab and the room that symbolized her first heat cycle. She felt a chill as she passed them, but all that mattered now was getting to the top floor. That was were she had been that day when she was six that she had been kicked down the hall, and that was where Sandeman's office was.

Ben and the Skeptic just followed along behind, watching her. They could both feel the tension coming from her, and they both knew it meant her nerves could snap at any moment. They just hoped she would calm down while they talked with Sandeman, maybe that would ease her mind. No one noticed that they were missing two people from the group.

* * *

Zack and Brin were moving quickly in the basement. Brin was holding the bombs as Zack set them up, she had never been good with explosives. She'd be likely to blast them to pieces if he let her give it a shot. It slowed down their work, but they had plenty of time. The others would probably be with Sandeman for quite a while. 

"Are we gonna be okay?"

"We'll all be fine."

"I'm not talking about all of us, I'm talking about you and me."

Zack paused in his work long enough to look up at her. "You mean about your heat cycle?"

Brin flushed a little, she hated it that her body's functions could screw things up so badly. "Yeah. Are we ever going to be able to feel comfortable in the same room together?"

Zack turned back to setting up the bomb so he could avoid eye contact. "I don't really know. I can't look at you without feeling that I've abused my power."

"What are you talking about?"

"I used to be the leader before Manticore turned me into a machine, and that made me closer to all of you. When you went into heat and started hurting yourself, Kay's first reaction was to bring you to me because you were closer to me and she knew you'd be safe. She wouldn't have done that if I hadn't been the leader before."

"That's crap and you know it. It's not like you knew when you first started watching over us that you'd end up in a situation like this. I'm the one who fucked my leader, I'm the one that screwed up."

Now Zack stood up to face her. "You had no control over yourself at the time. You couldn't possibly blame yourself for the fact that Manticore put feline DNA into you and turned you into a hormone machine. The fact is you would never have done that if you weren't in heat, and that's the difference in our situations."

* * *

Sandeman's office was strangely homey, it just made everyone relax a bit once they were in. Kay's eyes flicked to a picture on the wall. It showed a man she assumed to be Sandeman sitting next to a lovely woman with two boys in front of them. One of the boys was about fifteen with dark brown hair and brown eyes, the other had a frizz of dark hair and his brown eyes showed a rather wild eleven-year-old. Kay realized it must have been a family picture with Sandeman, his wife, and White and C.J. It struck Kay how different White looked. He actually appeared to be a nice kid. 

Everyone's attention turned straight ahead as the large chair behind the desk turned around. In it was an old man that wasn't even close to resembling his picture on the wall. The brown hair he'd had back then had long since turned to gray, and the lines on his face showed that he had been through a lot since then. That didn't surprise Kay, running from the Conclave was not an easy thing to do. His eyes wandered over them, then landed on her. The smile that spread across his face made Kay a little nervous, it was like he had recognized her. When he spoke, it surprised everyone. His voice was strong and eerily reminiscent of White.

"Now despite the fact that you changed your natural hair color, I would know who you are anywhere."

Kay's face was still hard, she didn't trust him as far as he could throw her. "Well, then, tell me, who am I?"

The answer was not the one she was expecting. "You are my first protection against the Coming."

Everyone in the room was quiet, Kay didn't know quite what to say. "I thought that was Max."

He shook his head with that strange smile still on his face. "No, my dear, you are. Max is more of a back-up plan."

Ben finally stepped forward. "How could Kay possibly stop the Coming?"

Sandeman now leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. "As I'm sure you've heard, the key is the most powerful Familiar we have. One of the rules of the Conclave is that we can only have one child enter the cult, our third child. More often than not, that rule is broken. I broke it with my children, and many others have done it as well. The family of the key is the only family that is forbidden to break this rule, but this time around it was broken. I know the family of the key very well, they are always the leader of the Phalanxes, our strongest fighting team. This generation's leader, Thula, always strictly follows the rules, but her mother didn't. Tamara, Thula's mother, had a fourth child, although she didn't give birth to her herself. You see, she was too scared of anyone finding out to keep the child, but she wanted her child to live. She came to me, seeing as how I'm a doctor of sorts, and asked me to move the egg from her body to a surrogate's. This was around the same time we were producing the X5s, so I found one of the extra surrogates there who would take the egg. I decided to do some of my own work on the child. Before putting the egg into the surrogate's body, we added X5 DNA. I wanted this because I knew the Coming would be within my lifetime, and I knew Thula would be the key used. The only way to surely prevent the Coming is to kill the key, but no one was strong enough to do it. I knew only another key could beat her, but I wanted to make sure the second key was stronger, so I turned her into an X5. That X5, my dear, is you."

Everyone's eyes widened in shock at the news. Kay's whole body seemed to freeze, but she forced herself to get her next words out. "I'm a Familiar?"

He nodded, meeting her gaze the entire time. "A genetically enhanced key, which would make you far stronger than any other transgenic or Familiar. You are the only person that could successfully kill Thula."

"But what about Max? What did you make her for?"

"Max is designed to be a warning for mankind, and a cure. She is not the complete cure of the disease, but she finishes it up."

"How?"

Now the Skeptic started talking, as if it had all just made sense to him. "The cult has a family that is the anti-key, but on their own they cannot destroy the disease. Something needs to be done with their blood to make it a complete cure. Are you saying Max has what they need to make it complete?"

Sandeman nodded, then added something else. "I also know who the family of the anti-key is."

The loud crash that filled the room made everyone jump, then the man who had just swung down through the window lunged at Sandeman. Kay couldn't move for a moment, then shot forward and reached Sandeman first. She grabbed the old phone off the desk, slamming it against the man's face. He hit the wall, already unconscious. Ben ran to the window and looked out.

"There's more coming!"

He had no sooner said that than he was sent flying backwards by the next person who came in. This time the Skeptic pulled out his gun and fired. "Get downstairs! I'll keep them busy up here!"

Sandeman managed to get out of his chair much faster than Kay thought he was capable of going. She stayed walking right ahead of him, with Ben directly behind. He was very important and they couldn't let him be killed just yet.

* * *

Brin could only stare at Zack in shock. "Are you saying that you would have slept with me regardless of whether I was in heat or not?" 

Zack blushed a little and stepped back, no longer looking at her. "Well, I always felt strongly about you. Not so much before you were recaptured by Manticore, but afterwards at the farm. That's not the most leader-like thing to say, now is it?"

"I don't suppose so. I thought Max was the only person you looked at as more than your sister?"

"It was all the aspects of her personality that made me feel that way. She was the only person who wouldn't take any bossing around from me. You became more like that after we got you back. You refused to listen to me and you laughed every time I even walked into the kitchen."

Now Brin had to smile. "Are you saying you're attracted to every woman that doesn't think you can cook? That's probably most of the women on the planet."

Zack smiled back. "See? You never would have said that to me a few years ago. I don't know why I like that, maybe it's the challenge."

Brin gestured to the bomb he had just finished setting up. "We'd better get this stuff up to the first floor and finish our work."

They worked on the first floor in silence. Brin was trying to keep the smile off her face. He was attracted to her. If anyone but him had told her that, she would have thought they were nuts. In fact, she was wondering if he hadn't been knocked too senseless by seeing Lydecker's body earlier, but then he probably would be pushing her away. They were nearly done with the explosives when they heard the crash upstairs.

"I think our company is here," Brin said grimly. Zack started working faster, set and determined to finish his work here before going after them. All they would have to do was get their people out of the building and let the bombs do their work. As soon as he finished setting up the last one, he pulled out the tiny box with the detonator.

"As soon as everyone's out of the building, we are blowing this place up. I wish we had done it on our last time here."

"If you had done that, I wouldn't be here."

Zack didn't say anything to that, he just headed upstairs. Brin stayed close behind him, ready at any time for one of the Familiars to jump out of one of the rooms at them.

* * *

Kay could still hear the Skeptic shooting in Sandeman's office. She knew he would eventually run out of ammo, then he'd be as good as dead. It sort of surprised her that he was that kind of person. Maybe the Reds weren't all that bad after all. They were down to the third floor when Zack and Brin ran into them. Kay hadn't even noticed they'd been gone. 

"Where were you two?"

"Doing something important. They're here, aren't they?" Zack avoided her question easily. Kay nodded, knowing she didn't need to tell him. It was then that the shooting in Sandeman's office stopped.

"Move!" Kay snapped quickly. Everyone ran as fast as they could towards the stairs, but Kay and Ben had to move slower because of Sandeman. He was actually moving pretty fast for his age but not nearly as fast as the X5s. Kay knew they'd need a different way of getting him out.

"Can you make it from here to the ground?"

Sandeman's look showed his amusement at the question. "Of course, but I can't guarantee I'll be alive after I hit the ground."

"Don't be a smartass. Would you be able to made it from the second floor?"

"Perhaps."

"Zack! Get down on the ground outside Manticore and we'll throw him down to you."

Zack nodded and promptly ran into the closest room and jumped out the window. Kay knew he reached the ground on his feet, so she just focused on getting Sandeman down to the second floor. They had just reached the stairway when they heard a shot fired behind them. Kay heard someone hit the ground behind her.

"Keep going!" Ben said urgently. Kay turned her head to look at him. She certainly wasn't expecting him to be on the ground. On closer inspection she saw the bullet wound in his side.

"Ben, I'm not going anywhere if you're hurt!"

"Just get going! I'll hold them off, then I'll get out! I can still make the jump to the ground, so you don't have to worry about me."

Kay shoved her gun and all her ammunition into his hands. "Here, you can hold them off longer with this. I don't need it, I have Brin with me." She leaned down and kissed him roughly, then followed Brin and Sandeman down the hall. She hated leaving him there like that, but she knew he could make it down.

Sandeman turned around just as she reached him when he heard Ben start firing almost right away at the Familiars coming down the steps. The color drained completely from his face as he stared back at the scene.

"Ames..."

Kay immediately turned her head. Sure enough, White was standing on the staircase with his gun in his hand. The only person he was looking at was Sandeman, everyone else seemed to disappear for him. It wasn't until he raised his gun to fire and Ben shot him in the stomach that he noticed others were there. He turned and aimed his gun at Ben's head so quickly that nobody had time to react. As soon as the gun went off Kay shot back up the stairs. Brin started after her.

"Kay, don't!"

Kay ignored her as she headed for Ben. Some part of her already told her it was too late, but she needed to get to him. _I should have visited him earlier. Why didn't I listen to my head?_

Zack pulled himself back up into a window on the second floor. He had heard all the gunshots, something had to be wrong. His face turned dead white when he saw the scene on the stairs. Kay was running up to Ben's body, which was definitely all it was, while Brin started to follow her. Zack shouted out to her before she could get too far.

"I already pressed the detonator! This place is gonna go in five minutes!"

Brin stopped and turned to look at him when she heard him, then shouted up after Kay. "Get out of here now!"

Kay didn't show any sign that she had heard the warning, but Brin knew she had. Zack had now grabbed Sandeman's arm and was dragging him the rest of the way down the stairs. The old man was still looking back at his son, who Zack was willing to bet wasn't going to be alive much longer. Brin finally turned and went after them, but couldn't stop herself from constantly looking back at the stairs.

When White saw Kay approach, he obviously didn't recognize her, but he could see he was in some serious trouble. He turned and ran, still moving fast in spite of the opening in his stomach. Kay stopped for a moment when she reached Ben. She couldn't bring herself to look down at him, she had seen the damage the shot had made when it hit. She grabbed the friendship bracelet that she had received from Jason, Mark, and Katie so many months ago and dropped it onto his chest, then took off again after White. He wasn't getting away this time.

When they reached the top floor, Kay saw him head for the last stairwell that led to the roof. She'd be able to get him up there. She turned abruptly and darted into one of the rooms, broke the window, positioned herself perfectly on the windowsill, and jumped up onto the roof. She could see the door he'd be coming out of, it would be all too easy to kill him when he reached it. She didn't notice Zack jump back out onto the ground and catch a still dazed Sandeman as he jumped out to him, then move aside so Brin could land. The only thing she did notice was when Zack cupped his hands and shouted up to her "You only have three minutes!" That was fine, three minutes would be more than enough.

Kay reached the door just as it was flung open. White didn't even see her fist coming, and was more than lucky to fall sideways and hit the wall rather than go flying back down the stairs. Kay reached in and grabbed his throat, pushing him up against the wall until his feet were no longer on the ground. He was in shock for a couple seconds, then got a much better look at her face. She saw his eyes bulge when he recognized her, but that also could just have been how hard she was squeezing his throat.

White finally managed to slam his knee into her gut, catching her off guard and forcing her to drop him. He punched her as hard as he could, more to stun her than to do actual damage; from what he'd heard the other X5 say, she'd be killed when this place went up.

Kay certainly was stunned, but not enough for him to make a decent getaway. She lunged at him and hit him in the back, causing them both to go down. As soon as they hit the stone, Kay got on her knees and flipped him over to face her.

"You might think it's okay to kill your partner, but don't go off killing someone else's!" She started hitting him, trying to get every square inch of his face. For some reason, there were already healing wounds there, but she split them all wide open again. It wasn't until she heard and felt the rumble of the first bomb going off that she jumped off him and headed for the edge of the roof. She had just looked over the side and was wondering if she could make that distance alright when her hair was grabbed from behind. White slammed her head down onto the stone, nearly rendering her unconscious, but she threw an elbow into his leg. His legs nearly came out from under him, and Kay took the time to jump back to her feet. They were about to start seriously fighting when the bombs started going off faster. Kay decided to forget about him and just started to jump off, then the entire building blew up right under her feet.

* * *

Brin looked up at where the roof had just been. "Zack, I never saw her get off! Did she make it?" 

Zack was looking up at the same spot, feeling strangely numb. "She had to have made it. This is Kay we're talking about!"

"I hope she did, she's the world's best chance against the Coming." Both X5s turned to look at Sandeman with disgust.

"To hell with the Coming! The best thing she could have done for the world was to kill your wonderful son up there!" Brin growled, wishing that she could tear him apart for saying something like that. Sandeman grew silent at that, knowing perfectly well that Kay was more than capable of killing Ames and that she was in the state of mind to do it.

Zack started to walk towards the burning remains of Manticore. "Maybe she got off on the other side, I have to go see."

Brin shoved Sandeman into the van and waited for Zack to return. She had already lost her best friend, now was her closest sister going to be taken away from her too? Not to mention the brother she had lost inside. She hoped that Zack would come back with Kay, who would tell her she killed White and that Ben wasn't really dead. Wouldn't that be perfect?

The time wore on and Brin started to seriously wonder where Zack was. Why hadn't he come back yet? He must have found Kay by now. It wasn't until a half hour after he had left that Zack came back, looking oddly defeated. Brin jumped out of the van.

"Did you find her? Where is she? She isn't..." Brin couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. He shook his head.

"I honestly don't know. I didn't see any sign of her. I saw the bodies of some Familiars, but I didn't see Kay anywhere."

"She could have gotten away, right? She could have made it?"

Zack kept staring at the ground. "Maybe, but I don't think so. My bet is that she's inside the rubble somewhere."

Brin couldn't find the words to say. She could still remember talking with Kay, joking with her about cooking, laughing at her when she didn't know who Emeril was, riding horses with her, and basically always feeling in awe of her because of her strength, both physical and emotional.

Zack climbed into the driver's seat, struggling to keep his mind blank. That was the only way he had ever been able to deal with his emotions, forget about them. He tried to ignore the fact that Kay had been sitting here not even an hour before, he tried to ignore that he'd had to support her not too long ago when she'd seen Lydecker's body, and he tried to ignore that just a few days ago she'd been there to talk some sense into him about Brin. Even more so than Lydecker, she was a person whose strength caused him to believe that nothing could ever destroy her, but he had the feeling that she was somehow already destroyed when Ben was killed. While trying to force the thoughts from his mind, he reached down and turned on the radio. There was dead silence from the people in the van as the music played. They had to learn to say goodbye.

* * *

_Once upon a year gone by  
She saw herself give in  
Every time she closed her eyes  
she saw what could have been  
Well nothing hurts and nothing bleeds  
when covers tucked in tight  
funny when the bottom drops  
How she forgets to fight...to fight _

And it's one more day in paradise  
One more day in paradise 

As darkness quickly steals the light  
That shined within her eyes  
She slowly swallows all her fear  
And soothes her mind with lies  
Well all she wants and all she needs  
Are reasons to survive  
A day in which the sun will take  
Her artificial light...her light 

And it's one more day in paradise  
One more day in paradise  
It's one more day in paradise  
One last chance to feel alright...alright 

Don't pretend to hold it in just let it out  
Don't pretend to hold it in just push it out  
Don't you try to hold it in just let it out and  
Don't you try to hold it in you hold it in 

And it's one more day in paradise  
One more day in paradise  
It's one more day in paradise  
One last chance to feel alright 

Once upon a year gone by  
She saw herself give in  
Every time she closed her eyes  
She saw what could have been 

* * *

Author's Note: Just in case anyone's wondering, the song at the end is "Paradise" by Vanessa Carlton. I heard it and thought it fit the story pretty good. Be sure to go look at "The Second Key", which is the sequel to "Outside". 


End file.
